1999 Mazda Miata 10th Anniversary Edition on 2040-cars

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Toyota, Honda, Nissan and more collaborating to increase fuel efficiency

Toyota, Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Daihatsu have announced an alliance that will see a push to improve fuel economy from both gas-powered and diesel-powered engines by as much as 30 percent before the end of the decade.
The newly assembled Research Association of Automotive Internal Combustion Engines put the roughly $20-million project together, with the Japanese government committing to half the cost while the eight manufacturers will chip in the rest.
According to Automotive News, the automakers will team up and share basic research on internal-combustion engines in a bid to cut costs. Eventually, the results of the research will find its way into a production vehicle, although it's unclear just when we'll see the fruits of this partnership on the road.

Are Toyota and Lexus planning to use Mazda's straight-six and new platform?

Japan's Best Car magazine has what appears to be a whopper of a rumor. The mag said it scooped Mazda's development of a straight-six engine that Mazda only revealed in March, the carmaker having buried the information in a financial statement. By way of Lexus Enthusiast and according to Google translate, Best Car writes that as it was speaking to a Toyota source on an unrelated matter, the magazine found out that Mazda's work on the straight-six was predicated on the engine's use in Toyota Group vehicles, which includes Lexus. Here's the account of how the engine and Mazda's coming front-engined rear-drive platform, dubbed "Large Architecture," will make their way to Toyota City: The first appearance for the straight-six, predicted to come in at a hair under 3.0 liters, is the Mazda Atenza/Mazda6 successor coming around 2022. The powertrain will get a 48-volt hybrid system for increased fuel economy, and the automaker's said to be considering a plug-in hybrid version. Toyota's first shot at the platform and the straight-six will be whatever fills the slot of the Japanese-market Mark-X sedan. We once had a version of the Mark-X in the U.S. as the Toyota Cressida. In Japan, it's sold as a rear- and all-wheel drive option to the Camry. The Mark-X is slated to end production in December this year — a "sporty four-door coupe" on Mazda's platform and with Mazda's engine eventually taking its place. Lexus has a number of plans for the components from Hiroshima. The next Lexus IS is said to evolve from the current sedan, using a Lexus V6 but migrating to Toyota's TNGA platform. Best Car says the IS after that, perhaps sometime around 2026, will hop onto Mazda's new platform and use the inline-six engine. Before that, the replacement for the Lexus RC in 2022 will sit on the Mazda platform and get that inline-six. What's more, Lexus will introduce a new model to slot between the $64,750 RC and the $92,950 LC employing Mazda's architecture and engine. Best Car says the model will act as a "next car" for RC owners, but we can't tell if the magazine means a two-door or a four-door coupe; the article also says the Lexus model will compete with the Audi A7. Toyota and Mazda partnered up in 2016 on technology sharing. Best Car's take is that, as was done on the Supra, Toyota is picking up all the tech it can from suitable sources so that it can continue to sell models that don't make sense to develop alone.

2021 Mazda CX-30 2.5 Turbo starts at $31,000

In our review of the Mazda CX-30, we said that this crossover is so gifted dynamically, it was practically begging for more power. Mazda answered by adding a new turbo engine for 2021, and now we know how much the extra grunt is going to cost. Mazda has released pricing for the more potent CX-30, and the Turbo model opens at $31,000 (including the $1,100 destination charge), putting it above even the top-trim base-engine version. The turbocharged 2.5-liter engine makes 227 horsepower and 310 lb-ft of torque on regular gas, or 250 horses and 320 lb-ft with 93-octane (against 186 hp and 186 lb-ft for the standard 2.5-liter). Besides the extra output, the CX30 2.5 Turbo also comes standard with all-wheel drive, which is $1,400 extra on the regular CX-30. Other standard features of the CX-30 2.5 Turbo include adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go capability, blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, lane-departure warning, lane-keep assist, automatic high-beams, and a driver alertness monitor. Also, heated seats, a sunroof, leatherette upholstery, 18-inch wheels with a black finish, a gloss-black grille and door mirrors, roof rails, LED exterior lighting, keyless entry, rear A/C vents, and an 8.8-inch touchscreen with smartphone mirroring and a Wi-Fi hotspot. That features list is considerably longer than what you'll find in the $23,000 base model and puts the standard 2.5 Turbo somewhere between the regular CX-30's Select ($25,000) and Preferred ($27,400) trims. Only the $28,550 Premium has more kit. From there, the CX-30 2.5 Turbo can add the Premium Package for $33,400, which brings leather, navigation, a head-up display, a heated steering wheel, a power liftgate, adaptive front lighting, satellite radio, Bose 12-speaker premium audio, and shift paddles. At the top of the heap is the CX-30 2.5 Turbo with Premium Plus Package for $35,000. Its finery includes a 360-degree-view monitor, parking sensors, automatic braking for the rear cross-traffic alert, Traffic Jam Assist (semi-automated lane-centering at speeds under 40 mph), auto-dimming side mirrors, and Homelink. Even with the Premium Plus Package, the CX-30 2.5 Turbo is less expensive than the CX-5 with the same engine. To get the turbo engine in the larger CX-5, you're looking at $36,385 for the Grand Touring Reserve. The CX-30 2.5 Turbo also represents a savings over the similar-sized and similarly powerful BMW X2, which starts at $37,595 with front-wheel drive and $39,595 with AWD for 2021.