Mazda to Debut Stop-Start System on Next Mazda3; Unveils Fuel-Efficient Mazda2

Special Coverage

Geneva
Auto Show

GENEVA – Mazda Motor Corp. will debut its fuel-saving stop-start technology on the next-generation Mazda3 compact car, going on sale next year.

“We’re going to progressively roll it out,” James Muir, president and CEO-Mazda Motor Europe, tells Ward's following the auto maker’s press conference here. “We’ll start with the new Mazda3.

Mazda2 hatchback to offer choice of small, fuel-efficient engines.

“I’ve already driven it. It’s good, it works,” he adds, noting fuel savings of up to 10% will be realized.

Muir believes measures, such as stop-start technology that shuts off the engine at idle, are just the tip of the iceberg in the development of more fuel-efficient and less-polluting vehicles.

“Nothing drives advancement like crisis,” Muir says, comparing the current period of increasing raw-materials prices and demand for oil with the period of rapid advancement following the end of World War II.

Meanwhile at the show today, the auto maker unveils the new Mazda2 hatchback for Europe.

The car, which is lighter than its predecessor, offers a variety of small-displacement engines, including a new 1.4L common-rail turbodiesel.

Muir says greenhouse-gas emissions from the engines are as low as 114 g/km.

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