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Mazda struggles to meet demand on rising sales

For Mazda there's good and not-so-good news on the heels of strong US sales in 2012: demand is high - especially for the Mazda3, Mazda6 and CX-5 - but supply is low, TheDetroitBureau.com reports. That's partly because all Mazda production happens in Japan, since it ended its alliance with Ford and pulled out of a joint venture with the blue oval building cars in suburban Detroit last year.
In 2012, Mazda sales here jumped 26.4 percent, but 2013 sales through August have just been keeping pace with the overall US auto industry, increasing at a rate of 6.8 percent. Mazda North American Operations director of marketing and communications Jeremy Barnes says that sales have slowed because the company is facing challenges delivering products here.

Mazda files patents for a sequential twin-turbo setup

Mazda has a history of interesting engine technologies, from yesterday's rotary engine to tomorrow's compression ignition engine, and new patents show it still may have some internal combustion tricks up its sleeve. The one on display in these patents isn't especially new in concept, though. A sequential twin-turbocharger setup is something Mazda itself used on the third-generation RX-7. But it's something we haven't seen much of lately. It looks like it could have some possible advantages over older sequential systems, and it has some potential advantages for enthusiasts. First a quick and dirty primer for what makes a sequential twin-turbo system distinct from other twin-turbo systems. In many twin-turbo engines, there are simply two turbos that work together as one bigger turbo. They're the same size, and they spool up at the same time. With a sequential setup, at low rpm, a smaller turbocharger is spooled up first at low-rpm for quicker throttle response, and as the rpm and exhaust pressure increases, a valve opens up that allows a larger turbocharger to also spool up and provide high-rpm boost. That's basically how the Mazda design shown above functions. A big flap blocks off the larger turbocharger exhaust inlet, channeling all the exhaust to the smaller turbo. When more exhaust is available at high rpm, it looks like that flap opens up to spool up the big turbo, too. What's interesting here is that the way the turbochargers are packaged takes up less space than past systems. It looks like both turbos are contained in one unit that shares the same exhaust outlet, meaning the exhaust manifold could be kept simple and compact. In fact, the piping for compressed intake air could also be shared, reducing the amount of piping, which would further decrease the amount of materials and possible failure points. There are a number advantages of making this system smaller. The potential applications of the system are much greater, since it could fit in smaller cars with smaller engine bays. Making the system smaller also means that there won't be as much weight, which is important from both fuel economy and performance standpoints. Finally, the smaller setup likely uses fewer materials, which could make the system cheaper and thus easier to offer on a wider range of vehicles, or at least more profitable for Mazda.

Driving the Chevy Corvette Z06 and Porsche 911 Carrera T | Autoblog Podcast #551

On this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Green Editor John Snyder and Associate Editor Joel Stocksdale. We talk about the wide variety of the cars we've been driving, starting with the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 and Porsche 911 Carrera T. Then we discuss the more powerful 2019 Mazda MX-5 Miata, our long-term Honda Ridgeline and our week with the Hyundai Ioniq PHEV. Finally with Pebble Beach on our minds, we preview the Concours d'Elegance.Autoblog Podcast #551 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown 2019 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 2018 Porsche 911 Carrera T 2019 Mazda Miata 2018 Honda Ridgeline 2018 Hyundai Ionic Plug-In Hybrid Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: