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Tougher than steel: Wood pulp could make lighter auto parts

KYOTO, Japan — The global push among carmakers to make ever lighter vehicles is leading some auto suppliers in Japan to turn to what seems like an unlikely steel substitute — wood pulp. Japanese researchers and auto component makers say a material made from wood pulp weighs just one-fifth of steel and can be five times stronger. The material - cellulose nanofibers — could become a viable alternative to steel in the decades ahead, they say, although it faces competition from carbon-based materials, and remains a long way from being commercially viable.> Related: Jay Leno drives the Renew cannabis car — hemp you can't dent Reducing the weight of a vehicle will be critical as manufacturers move to bring electric cars into the mainstream. Batteries are an expensive but vital component, so a reduction in car weight will mean fewer batteries will be needed to power the vehicle, saving on costs. "Lightweighting is a constant issue for us," said Masanori Matsushiro, a project manager overseeing body design at Toyota. "But we also have to resolve the issue of high manufacturing costs before we see an increased use of new, lighter-weight materials in mass-volume cars."A NEW PROCESS Researchers at Kyoto University and major parts suppliers such as Denso Corp, Toyota's biggest supplier, and DaikyoNishikawa Corp, are working with plastics incorporated with cellulose nanofibers — made by breaking down wood pulp fibers into several hundredths of a micron (one thousandth of a millimeter). Cellulose nanofibers have been used in a variety of products ranging from ink to transparent displays, but their potential use in cars has been enabled by the "Kyoto Process," under which chemically treated wood fibers are kneaded into plastics while simultaneously being broken down into nanofibers, slashing the cost of production to roughly one-fifth that of other processes. "This is the lowest-cost, highest-performance application for cellulose nanofibers, and that's why we're focusing on its use in auto and aircraft parts," Kyoto University Professor Hiroaki Yano, who is leading the research, told Reuters in an interview. The university, along with auto parts suppliers, are currently developing a prototype car using cellulose nanofiber-based parts to be completed in 2020.

The spirit of these 7 weird Mazdas lives on in today's cars

HIROSHIMA, Japan — When visiting the Mazda Museum in Hiroshima, housed amidst the company's main manufacturing site on the shore of the Enko River, you can follow Jujiro Matsuda's early 20th century entrepreneurial path from artificial cork manufacturer to machine and machine toolmaker, to motor vehicle producer. But probe a bit deeper into the exhibits, and you can uncover more than just a chronicle of corporate achievements: delightfully weird outliers, paragons of oddball design, engineering and marketing solutions It's looking at these delightful misfits that really illustrates Mazda's tale. You can also see precisely how many of these vintage conveyances led directly (or indirectly, or obtusely) to Mazda's most iconic American-market cars and trucks. Our seven favorite precursors, and their lovable successors, are listed below. 1931 Type TCS/Mazda B-Series Mazda's first vehicle was this little three-wheeler, powered by an air-cooled, one-cylinder motor. Because the company lacked a distribution network at the time, the trucklet was marketed by Mitsubishi; hence the three-diamond pattern on its side. All of this is very reminiscent of the company's eventual foray into the U.S. market, where its sales were spearheaded by compact pickups. The B-Series, which was one of the first Mazda vehicles available in the U.S., arrived in 1972, and stuck around through the first decade of the 21st century. Like its partnership with Mitsubishi, Mazda teamed up with stakeholder Ford to market this little truck as Ford's first small pickup, the Courier, the precursor to the Ranger. There was even a rotary-powered B-Series for a few years, but we're getting ahead of ourselves. 1968 Bongo Van/Mazda5 The Bongo allegedly was the first one-box van design in Japan, and apparently it was so popular that the name Bongo became, for a period of time, the generic metonym for the category—the way that Kleenex is a stand-in for all facial tissue. With a tiny rear-mounted engine and a planar expanse of metal to push around, it was not particularly fast, but it was both spacious and innovative. The same could be said of the brand's mini-minivan, the Mazda5, which was available for a couple of generations in the States in the Aughties. Sadly, the name 5 never caught on as a synonym for fun-to-drive family hauler, at least not yet, and the category itself (like nearly every other car category) was crushed in America by the rise of the crossover.

2019 Mazda 6 gets more expensive, adds equipment and drops the manual

Update: We got wind of what Mazda had in store for the 2019 Mazda 6 in this report from last week, and now we have all the official information from Mazda. The news on the manual transmission's disappearance is still true — 2018 model year cars will be the last ones that make that an option. There are a few changes Mazda has implemented for this model year, and a slight price adjustment that goes with. The addition of Mazda's i-Activsense safety tech as standard is confirmed. As is G-Vectoring Control Plus, the next generation of Mazda's G-Vectoring we saw hit the CX-5 for the 2019 model year. Pricing has been adjusted to reflect the extra standard equipment and elimination of the manual transmission. A base (manual) 2018 Mazda 6 Sport costs $22,845 with its $895 destination fee, but the new 2019 model begins at $24,720 with the $920 destination fee included. That's a considerable increase, but the charge for an automatic transmission was $1,050 of that previously. Higher trim levels don't experience as much of a hike. For example, the maxed-out Signature is only $375 more expensive in 2019, coming in at $36,020 total. Mazda says the 2019 Mazda 6 goes on sale this month. It's a little surprising that 2019 model year Mazda 6s weren't already on sale, but mid-year updates or late introductions aren't exactly out of the norm for Mazda. Since its introduction, the current generation Mazda6 has always remained a top choice among driving enthusiasts. That's because it's one of the few cars left in its class to still offer a manual transmission, next to the Honda Accord. But sadly, it seems even that's going to disappear for the 2019 model year update. CarsDirect originally heard through the grapevine that the Mazda6 sedan will be losing its standard six-speed manual while gaining some new safety tech. At first, we here at Autoblog were in denial. We had to reach out to Mazda to verify this unfortunate news. And sadly, it seems CarsDirect's findings are accurate, with Mazda USA's marketing and brand communications manager, Drew Cary, replying to our inquiry with the following statement: At Mazda we are always listening to our fans, especially when it comes to what they are looking for from our vehicles. As we have moved the Mazda6 upscale with the launch of the Grand Touring Reserve and Signature models, we have seen less demand for a manual transmission option.