New York motor show 2012: Mazda Takeri

The Mazda Takeri saloon concept previously seen at the Tokyo and Geneva motor shows has been unveiled in front of the US audience at today's New York motor show.

As car companies embark on wildly contrasting electric and hybrid vehicle strategies, could some of the most revolutionary advances come from the trusty combustion engine? Mazda is determined to prove there’s life left in petrol and diesel.

The Takeri concept exists as a showcase for Mazda’s ‘Kodo – Soul in Motion’ design language, which is guiding the direction of the firm’s latest production cars. According to Mazda Europe’s design chief, Peter Birtwhistle, “about 80 per cent” of the Takeri will be carried over onto the next 6 saloon, due next year.

The Takeri, however, is more than just a striking saloon concept. Beneath its skin, it highlights technology Mazda has developed under the SkyActiv umbrella in its quest to improve the fuel economy of its entire range by 30 per cent by 2015. That promise was made in 2007 as part of Mazda bosses’ aim of offering hybrid-like efficiency from internal combustion engines.

Why, though, persevere with petrol and diesel when other manufacturers are moving towards electrification?

“There are two main reasons,” explains Uwe Kracht, vehicle team manager at Mazda Motor Europe. “Firstly, we still believe combustion engines offer great potential. For example, up to 30 per cent of the energy from these engines is still getting lost. The second reason is that we are convinced that in 2020 more than 80 per cent of cars will still use combustion engines.”

Mazda calculates that its goals for improving fuel economy and CO2 emissions by 2015 would only otherwise be possible if either half of its new passenger cars were hybrids or almost a quarter of them were full electric vehicles. Given the current take-up of such vehicles, it’s an unlikely situation.

SkyActive is the first step

The company’s first step towards that 2015 economy target was SkyActiv, a range of cleaner powertrains and lighter chassis and bodyshells that has already reached production in the shape of the CX-5 compact SUV, due in British showrooms this spring.

Of course, Mazda isn’t ruling out a fully electric car for the future, and it has already forged a licensing deal with Toyota to develop a hybrid that is expected next year. Kracht says: “For further development, we are following a ‘building block’ strategy, with SkyActiv at its base. We will develop the electrical applications in steps until perhaps some time in the future we will finally end up with an electric car.”