With the incorporation of higher quality interior materials and design, longitudinally-mounted inline-six-cylinder turbocharged engines and the traditional front-engine/rear-drive proportions these motors dictate, Mazda has moved upscale in recent years, part of an effort at differentiating itself from its Japanese peers in the American market. But perhaps one of its most distinctive practices has been its resistance to releasing a compelling battery electric vehicle (BEV).
Its one effort in this respect was rather paltry. The MX-30 of 2021-2023 held only around 100 miles of range, and was only sold in California, if barely so. Just over 500 of these CUVs rolled off dealer lots. But in the years since, the brand has indicated that it has started to come around to the realities, and necessities, of battery power. In some form.
“3-4 years ago, we started talking about our multi-solution strategy and said we would be 25-40% electrified globally in coming years,” says Jeff Guyton, Mazda’s global chief financial officer. “We always said there was a pretty wide range of how we would do that because the rate of EV adoption differs by geographies, and we plan to remain flexible in that range. But we have announced that our own bespoke BEV is coming in 2027.”
Part of the slow path toward a fully electric car is based in the brand’s character; Mazda has always seen itself as a “challenger” brand at home, and thus abroad, having been founded in Hiroshima in 1920. This places it away from Tokyo, the epicenter of the Japanese automotive market and manufacturing, and within a city broadly impacted by the horrors of the atomic bombing, and the subsequent efforts to rebuild it. Mazda’s long-term interest in the compact and efficient, but emissions-challenged, Wankel rotary engine is symbolic of this unique approach, as is its focus on distinctive, stylish, human-centric design, something it sees as anathema to the blandifying effects of BEVs.
“With BEV, car design becomes like fashion design: the only difference between vehicles is the mark on your lapel. This makes it more difficult to express Mazda’s uniqueness, which is about proportion and joy of driving,” says Masashi Nakayama, the brand's global chief designer. He draws a slender, streamlined dolphin on a notepad in front of him. “In the EV era, every vehicle becomes like this, for aero. But when they hunt,” he draws what looks like a dolphin leaping, “they change shape, they spread their fins and become dynamic. This is the Mazda way.”
But perhaps the key limiter on Mazda’s progression toward an electric vehicle is based in an intrinsic differentiator between it and many of its competitors. “Mazda hates weight,” says Guyton. “When I went to work at Ford, the way we routinely assessed the value of systems was by plotting the relationship between performance and cost. Mazda engineers asses components by dividing performance by weight. If we can solve the weight problem, we can solve everything else.”
This monomaniacal focus may be based in no small part around the material scarcity in which the marque developed its first four-wheeled vehicles, in the scrounging aftermath of the nuclear obliteration of its home city. This parsimony extends to powertrain decisions, cueing the brand to focus on wringing marked efficiency improvements from its gasoline engines, first through its SkyActiv system, then mild hybridization. “Japan is very conscious of energy use because almost all of our energy is imported, and if you import all your energy, you’re most interested in how efficiently it can be used,” Guyton says. “Improving fuel efficiency by 30% is as good as having 30% of your fleet electric.”
Additionally, Mazda’s ongoing dalliance with the Wankel motor also seemingly fuels its resistance to electric power. “We still have an R&D team dedicated to rotary development,” says Ryuichi Umeshita, the brand’s global chief technology officer. “The biggest technological hurdle to the success of the rotary, especially in the US, is emissions, but now we have a good forecast that we can pass that in part by developing new catalyst devices and Skyactiv technologies that fit better with rotary technology.”
One of the brand’s goals is thus to utilize a next-generation rotary engine as an onboard generator in a serial hybrid setup. Such a powertrain would take advantage of the rotary’s compact size and light weight, while limiting its operation to its most efficient and least emitting power-band, between 300 and 3000 revs. At one point, Guyton even suggests powering an efficient next-gen Wankel with carbon-neutral biofuel, as if marrying a fantasy powertrain and a fantasy fuel could create a tangible reality.
In the meantime, given increasing global electrification mandates, Mazda will continue pursuing its BEV path, while noting the limitations of its market position and R&D budget. “Mazda is a very small player,” says Umeshita. “So, our strategy is to develop a platform that can accommodate different sizes and types of batteries over time.”
He also knows what segment the company will target with its first American-market, long-range EV. “In order to have the best chance of succeeding in the market, we need to introduce a BEV in the largest market category,” Umeshita says. “And in our business in the US, our main car line is CX-50. We have the biggest customer base for that car.” He also notes that this vehicle is currently produced in America, perhaps sparing it from some of the tariffs promulgated by the current administration.
Mazda is hoping to take advantage of forthcoming developments in battery technology to yield greater efficiencies and denser energy storage. Given such changes, it believes that it should be able to meet market requirements for American consumers, while maintaining affordability and meeting weight targets. “Our range assumption is at least 300 miles,” Umeshita says. “That is the baseline point of entry for the US.”
This all seems like definitive progress toward the goals of electrification. But before the conversation completes, Umeshita returns to the rotary engine, noting that the brand’s recent Iconic SP concept car—a seemingly production-ready concept meant to showcase Mazda’s forthcoming sports car design language—is designed to accommodate a rotary. “We can use the rotary engine as a generator,” he says. But then he becomes slightly wistful. “But our passion is not there. We want to drive the car with the rotary.”
Brett Berk is a freelance automotive writer based in New York. He has driven and reviewed thousands of cars for Car and Driver and Road & Track, where he is a contributing editor. He has also written for Architectural Digest, Billboard, ELLE Decor, Esquire, GQ, Travel + Leisure and Vanity Fair.
