Mazda plans a range of in-house battery-electric vehicles built on savings achieved by a new production strategy while maintaining its multi-solution powertrain approach.
CEO Masahiro Moro presents Mazda's “Lean Asset strategy” at a press conference in Hiroshima saying investments in its electrification strategy first announced in 2022 can be trimmed thanks to using existing production assembly lines to build a range of different powertrain models.
The CEO claims the new production plan will cut investment projections, such as reducing battery procurement costs by half, and also cutting manpower and lead time for BEVs saving billions of dollars up to 2030.
The strategy builds on the automaker’s “Mazda Monozukuri Innovation 2.0” ultra-lean production processes introduced at the Monozukuri plant which claims a tripling of productivity by allowing more complex development to be carried out with the current level of resources.
Moro says a new BEV model will be launched in 2027. The company expects to reduce development investment by 40% and development man-hours by 50% by using collaboration and partnerships.
By using existing manufacturing assets to produce both BEVs and internal combustion engine vehicles on the same production line, Mazda’s can avoid building a dedicated plant for BEVs, thus reducing initial capital investment by 85% and speeding up mass production vehicles to market by 80%.
Work on its ICE powered products has seen its engines meet strict emissions regulations such as Euro 7 in Europe, LEV4 and Tier 4 in the U.S.
These will also form the core of Mazda's proprietary hybrid technology to be introduced in the next Mazda CX-5 by the end of 2027. Skyactiv-Z combustion improvement technology will be deployed in Mazda's inline 6-cylinder engines for large passenger cars and will also be used for emission development of its rotary engines.
Going forward the number of engine units will be reduced to less than half and the control software will be reduced by two-thirds.
Moro tells assembled media: “As a small player in the industry, Mazda is pursuing a lean asset strategy to minimize business risk and increase business competitiveness. We will achieve sustainable growth through low investment, high asset efficiency and competitive technologies and products.”
Mazda gets the benefit of shared technology with Toyota. Toyota owns approximately 5.05% of Mazda's common stock after a 2017 business and capital alliance agreement, with Mazda owning a 0.25% stake in Toyota.
