New SkyActiv petrol engine as efficient as diesel
Mazda has revealed the world’s first commercially produced compression-ignition engine called SkyActiv-X, with it going into production in 2019.
Shown to the global media at Bad Homburg, Germany last week, SkyActiv-X will join the company’s G and D engine petrol and diesel engines.
The engine had the prefix ‘X’ to stand for ‘crossover’, Mazda Motor Corp’s head of R&D, Kiyoshi Fujiwara, told Driven at the global reveal.
The company told the media that the SkyActiv-X would have the fuel efficiency of a diesel engine combined with low carbon dioxide emissions.
The SkyActiv-X engine has a efficient compression ignition that sees the fuel-air mixture ignite spontaneously when compressed by a piston.
Called Spark Controlled Compression Ignition Mazda says the system “maximises the zone in which compression ignition is possible, and yields“a seamless transition between compression ignition and [traditional] spark ignition”.
Mazda claims the SkyActiv-X’s lean-burning will improve engine efficiency by up to 30 per cent over the current SkyActiv-G petrol engine and will set fueld economy figures similar to its SkyActiv-D diesel engines.
Mazda also says that the new compression ignition sytem working the an engine supercharger will increase torque by between 10–30 per cent over the SkyActiv-G petrol engine.
Although Mazda wouldn’t say which vehicle will be the first to get the SkyActiv-X, the engine was paried with a camoflagued Mazda3 at the Germany launch.
That vehicle also had new sound-proofing plus a new chassis and driver seats that are said to help with fatigue.
Mazda will also reveal its new Kodo design philosophy at this year’s Toyko Motor show, so expect to see the Mazda3 specced up with a new face and engine in 2019.
* See Saturday Driven for a full report on the Mazda SkyActiv-X engine plus an interview with the R&D boss.