Mazda to License Hybrid Tech from Toyota
<small>March 30, 2010 at 12:29 pm by Michael Austin
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What do you do if you’re an automaker in 2010 without any of your own hybrid technology? If you’re Mazda, you work out a licensing deal to use Toyota hardware.
Under the agreement announced yesterday, Mazda plans to launch a hybrid vehicle in Japan in 2013 using technology from the Toyota Prius. Mazda is inexplicably late to the hybrid party; Nissan went the licensing route with Toyota for the Altima in 2007 and even Porsche sells a hybrid in Europe.
Under the agreement, Mazda will use Toyota battery, electric-motor, and controller systems paired to one of Mazda’s next-generation efficient engines. The new engine families, called SKY-D (for diesel) and SKY-G (for gasoline), promise between 15 and 20 percent improvements in fuel efficiency. We’re expecting an announcement at this week’s New York auto show regarding what SKY engines will be available in the United States.