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Mazda previews straight-six, affirms upcoming crossover with Toyota hybrid system

Buried in Mazda's generally bleak second-quarter earnings report were a few juicy nuggets of news. Though the company had an operating loss of $502 million and sales are down 21 percent in part due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hiroshima-based firm has big plans for the future. Enthusiasts and environmentalists alike should take note. Firstly, Mazda showed an image of its upcoming straight-six engine. Essentially, it's the SkyActiv four that powers all of Mazda's current lineup, but with two additional cylinders. Unsurprisingly, the company says that it can be engineered to fit any of the current SkyActiv guises — the standard octane-variable gasoline powered G, the diesel D, and the sparkless-ignition X. The big six will pair with a new eight-speed automatic and can be combined with either a plug-in or 48-volt mild hybrid system, promising big power and efficiency. Reassuringly, Mazda says it's committed to offering this six in a rear-wheel-drive platform, which will underpin the 6 sedan's successor, as well as a midsize SUV. Both the platform and powertrain are said to be compatible with all-wheel-drive layouts as well. Which brings us to the second bit of news. Mazda also pictured a four-cylinder engine with hybrid technology. The financial report confirmed that Mazda will employ  Toyota's wildly successful hybrid system in an upcoming SUV. It's not that Mazda is taking advantage of Toyota's free access to all its hybrid patents until 2030. Mazda and Toyota have a capital tie-up and are nearing completion on a $2.3 billion joint-venture factory in Alabama with a 300,000-vehicle annual capacity. According to the Huntsville Business Journal, the firms have hired 750 employees so far, with room for 3,250 more. In return, Mazda will launch a European compact based on Toyota's Yaris Hybrid. The move is necessary for Mazda, which has lagged behind in electrification and in meeting the fleet emissions requirements in the European market. In return, by 2022, Mazda may even share the inline-six engine with Toyota and Lexus. While the hybrid crossover and compliance with EU rules will no doubt help the environment, we not-so-secretly hope that these strategies will keep Mazda profitable enough to bring that straight-six, rear-drive sports sedan to market.

Recharge Wrap-up: Qualcomm invests in Chargemaster, gamers will appreciate these Toyota Prius C ads

Chargemaster has received an investment from Qualcomm for wireless charging in the UK. Of the 27,000 charging stations it has already installed, 10,000 are ready to be adapted for inductive charging, according to Chargemaster. Dr. Anthony Thomson of Qualcomm says that with this investment (of a currently undisclosed amount), "we are taking another step towards deployment of a convenient and easy to use WEVC network." The convenience of wireless charging not only makes life easier for current EV drivers, but could also help convince more people to make the switch to electric driving. Read more at EV Fleet World or at Hybrid Cars. Toyota has released Japanese ads for the Prius C using music from popular video games. The ads, which borrow scores from Dragon Quest III and Monster Hunter, also use the tagline "Fun to drive, again." While some may find the link between driving and role-playing video games tenuous, fans of green cars and gaming know the various feedback displays in cars like the Prius C can make eking out every last mpg possible feel like a game, with the car's Eco Score essentially the equivalent of a game's high score. Plus even if the reference is lost on a viewer, the ads do instill a sense of adventure. See and hear for yourself in the videos below, and read more at Kotaku. The electric vehicle charger (EVC) market is predicted to grow by significantly worldwide by 2020, according to a new report. It shows a predicted compound annual growth rate of 28.28 percent between 2013 and 2020. Level 2 charging station sales will expand from $0.2 billion in 2014 to $3.5 billion by 2020, while growing from $67 million in 2013 to about $947 million in 2020 in the US alone. For 2014, residential EVC sales currently make up 70 percent of those in the US, while sales between home and non-residential level 2 chargers is expected to be about equally divided by 2020. Read more in the press release below. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Toyota working on cars that hover above the roadway

Toyota is one of the largest automakers in the world, but it's not content simply building and selling conventional cars - it's been at the forefront of numerous advancements in ground transportation. It is widely credited with advancing the cause of hybrid propulsion, and alongside Audi and Google, is among the first automakers seriously testing self-driving cars. We could go on, but the news here is that Toyota is reportedly developing vehicles that hover above the road surface instead of rolling along it.
The news comes from Hiroyoshi Yoshiki, one of Toyota's tech gurus, who revealed at Bloomberg's Next Big Thing summer in San Francisco that the company is working on hovering cars - ones that travel just above the road surface, but don't actually fly in three-dimension space.
According to The Verge, a spin-off of our own sister-site Engadget, Yoshiki refused to elaborate on what the project entails and how far along it is. He was speaking along acting NHTSA chief David Friedman, who lauded such advancements as a "great taste of innovations to come," but stressed the significance of more concrete improvements to conventional automobiles - like inter-car communications to keep vehicles from colliding on the highway - as more relevant to today's industry.