Mazda3 Fitted With SKY Gasoline Engine May Be Capable of 40 MPG on Highway

Mazda3 Fitted With SKY Gasoline Engine May Be Capable of 40 MPG on Highway

Mazda's SKY-G direct-injection gasoline engine (pictured), which the Japanese automaker unveiled at the 2009 Tokyo Auto Show last November, may enable the next-generation Mazda3 to get as much as 40 miles per gallon in highway driving when the car is introduced in 2015.

Mazda spokesman Jeremy Barnes confirmed last week's comments from Kiyoshi Fujiwara, the company's head of product planning and powertrain development, saying that a Mazda3-sized vehicle paired with a SKY-G engine ("G" for gas) and a six-speed automatic transmission may get 40 mpg in highway driving.

However, Barnes said that Mazda hasn't decided if the Mazda3 would get that engine. He also said that Mazda will sell a SKY-G-powered car in North America in 2011 and a car with a diesel version of the engine a year later.
 
The new engine is part of Mazda's broader, previously announced plan to meet progressively more stringent emissions standards by boosting fleetwide fuel economy by 30 percent over the next seven years. Such plans also include a turbodiesel version of the SKY engine, a stop-start idling system and a hybrid vehicle that will use a powertrain licensed from Toyota Motor Corp.

The company is pitching better fuel economy to build upon increasing sales in the U.S., as the automaker sold about 136,000 vehicles in the country during the first seven months of this year, up 14 percent from a year earlier, Mazda said last month.

Mazda, whose only hybrid is the Tribute that it introduced in 2007, said last April that a turbodiesel version of the engine would be incorporated into its next-generation mid-sized diesel car. That engine, the SKY-D, would provide highway fuel economy of up to 43 mpg in highway driving and a 20-percent improvement in fuel efficiency over Mazda's current 2.2-liter diesel, the company said.

Scott Doggett:  is an AutoObserver.com Associate Editor.