MAZ ON EMISSION

Mazda is a company that likes to tread its own path and ignore what everyone else is doing. It’s also very engineering led.

One of its most interesting developments is its petrol SKYACTIV-X engine which features compression ignition (like a diesel engine).

When the engine is cold or running at high revs, the petrol/air mixture is ignited by spark plugs in a conventional manner – but when the engine is running in the mid range the mixture is ignited by the plugs and by compression. The result is extremely low emissions. In fact, Mazda reckons that from well to wheel (that means oil well) the emissions of a car fitted with this engine will match an electric car that uses electricity generated by a coal-fired power station.