Mazda plans N. America diesel debut for 2017

TOKYO — Mazda Motor Corp is gearing up to launch a diesel engine car in North America next year, confident it can attract demand in a market that has been hit hard by Volkswagen’s emissions-cheating scandal.

US demand for diesel vehicles suffered a setback after Volkswagen admitted in September 2015 to installing software in its cars to make them appear cleaner than they were in exhaust emission tests.

But industry experts expect sales to gradually recover beginning next year, and Mazda believes its diesel vehicles will be “embraced in the United States” just as they have been at home.

In the second half of 2017, Mazda will introduce the diesel version of its revamped CX-5 SUV crossover in the United States, as the carmaker’s “clean diesel” technology remains an efficient way to help meet tougher fuel economy and emissions regulations, Masamichi Kogai, the CEO, told reporters in Tokyo.

Diesel models accounted for about a third of Mazda cars sold in Japan and Europe in the first nine months of the year, slightly down from the same period in 2015.

While North America accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the automaker’s total global sales, the company has repeatedly delayed its plans to launch a diesel vehicle there. The initial target was for a North American debut in 2012, but Mazda has taken longer than expected to coax as much performance out of its diesel engines as possible while meeting US emission standards that have become more stringent following the Volkswagen scandal, Kogai said.