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The company's CEO claims that affordable and reliable vehicles with combustion engines are a priority for US buyers:
Mazda is late to the electrification party. The MX-30 is far from being the roaring success the Japanese automaker had hoped it would be. It was axed from the United States at the end of the 2023 model year due to poor sales. The range-extending version with a rotary engine is only offered in certain markets, and the US is not on the list. In addition, the EZ-6 electric sedan isn't coming here either. However, the situation isn't all that bad.
Why? Because Americans primarily want gas cars. Speaking with Automotive News, Mazda CEO Masahiro Moro said ICE has a long future in America. Even at the end of the decade, traditional gas cars and mild-hybrid models will make up about two-thirds of annual sales. Plug-in hybrids and EVs will represent the remaining third. In other words, most vehicles will still have a gas engine five years from now.
Mazda's head honcho primarily referred to entry-level models, specifically the 3 and CX-30. Moro believes EV growth in the US has slowed down in the last 18 months or so, adding the trend will likely continue in the foreseeable future. That buys the company more time to develop a lithium-ion battery entirely in-house. The goal is to have it ready for 2030 in plug-in hybrids and purely electric cars. Expect a much higher energy density and "very short" charging times. Interestingly, the engineers already have a "very advanced research base for solid-state batteries."
In the meantime, work is underway on a two-rotor gas engine that will serve as a generator.
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by bzipitidoo on Friday December 13 2024, @04:24PM
Yes, want much more than just transportation. Privacy, status signalling, comfort, and practically a mobile office and entertainment center. Europeans have said that Americans want jackrabbit starts and want to drive all day long. One other thing I want is low maintenance costs, and on that I got a nasty surprise. In recent years, manufacturers have been building things into the windshield, such as cameras for reading speed limit signs. A rock in that kind of windshield will cost you 5x as a basic windshield without fancy features. Oh, and don't lose that key fob! A duplicate key costs less than $5. A replacement fob is at least $100.
Also, we don't want to be fed a load of bull, and EV manufacturers have been pushing it with exaggerated range claims. As I've said before, for several reasons the usable range of an EV is roughly half the ideal range. The latter is of course what manufacturers advertise. I do want to help, want to do my part, but not at the expense of being played for a sucker.
Commercial peddlers of environmental products play up their wares, like so many other businesses do, but they also play on our environmentalism. It's just the sort of thing to turn people more skeptical and anti-environmental, and I wish they'd stop. I keep looking at rooftop solar, and keep concluding that it's just not worth it. They aren't asking $10k for an installation, they're asking $40k. Too much, too risky, too long a payback. I worry how much an installation would hike my property taxes and home insurance rates. They ignore such considerations in their overly rosy calculations of payback periods. I worry that a hailstorm could wipe it all out before I've had it for 5 years. I don't need such worries. Another are all these sellers of double pane windows.
Practical environmentalism can be had without the fancy, expensive product. Changing from incandescent to LED lighting is a big one. When LED lights were very expensive, it was doubtful, but now that LED lighting is quite reasonably priced, it's a no brainer. Flat screen monitors have completely displaced CRTs. Computer power supplies went from a terrible 60% efficient to now all being 80% or better. That's the kind of quiet change that doesn't cost outrageously and makes a big difference. Another really good idea is to air dry clothing, not use a clothes dryer. That's a win all around. Clothes last longer, and you save the expense of running and even buying and owning a clothes dryer.