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Recharge Wrap-up: Mazda, Toyota earn environmental awards

Electric mobility nonprofit Drive Oregon has launched a campaign to invite the electric car industry to perform testing in the state. The campaign tells companies to, "Test Drive the Future in the Living Lab," citing Oregon's density of EV owners and charging infrastructure, varied terrain and climate, funding opportunities, and the state's technological reputation as the "Silicon Forest." Plus, as Drive Oregon Executive Director Jeff Allen, points out, "if you really screw things up here, it doesn't make as much noise as it would in California." Already, Jaguar Land Rover has announced plans for an Innovation Incubator in Oregon. Read more at Green Car Reports. Mazda's new paint system has won the Prime Minister's Award in the category of Manufacturing and Production Process at the 6th Monodzukuri Nippon Grand Award ceremony. Mazda's Aqua-tech paint system significantly reduces emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and CO2. The Aqua-tech system uses a water-based color basecoat and a urethane clear coat to reduce VOC emissions by 57 percent. It consolidates the painting process and reduces energy in paint-booth air-conditioning and flash-off processes to reduce energy consumption. It also allows Mazda to create such colors as Soul Red, which looks quite nice on the MX-5 Miata. Read more at Green Car Congress, and learn all about the Aqua-tech paint process from Mazda. The Toyota Mirai has received a 2015 Environmental Award from Austrian automobile club ARBO. The hydrogen fuel cell car took the prize in the category of Current Innovative Environmental Technologies. "At Toyota, we believe that various technologies will co-exist, ranging from EVs to hybrids to the most innovative of all, the fuel cell car," says Gerald Killmann, Vice President R&D of Toyota Motor Europe, in a comment thanking ARBO. "Mirai is a core component of Toyota's vision for a sustainable mobility society, one that allows us all to move freely in comfort and safety in an environmentally friendly, sustainable manner." Read more in the press release below. Vienna, Austria- November 5th - The Austrian automobile club ARBO* (Auto-Motor und Radfahrerverbund Osterreiche) has awarded the Toyota Mirai with the "2015 Environmental Award". This Award was received during a gala ceremony held yesterday in Vienna, where the Toyota Mirai was awarded in the category of "Current Innovative Environmental Technologies" . The jury consisted of ARBO automotive experts.

Crossovers help Mazda post its best January sales in 24 years

Mazda's 2017 ended on a bit of a flat note. It wrapped up the year with 2.8 percent fewer U.S. sales than 2016, and 8 of the 12 months lower month-over-month. But 2018 is off to a much brighter start with the company having its best January sales month since 1994, with just under 25,000 cars sold. Besides that headline statistic, the higher sales also mean this January exceeded 2017's sales by 15 percent or about 3,300 cars and put it ahead of January in that healthy 2016 year. Compared with this past December, though, sales are down about 2,000 cars. The gains are entirely due to the success of Mazda's crossover SUVs. The CX-5 was the best of the best with a month-over-month gain of over 66 percent. In actual numbers it sold about 13,500 copies compared with about 8,000 last January. The big three-row CX-9 had a big jump going from 1,600 units sold last January to about 2,300 for a gain of almost 47 percent. Even the little CX-3 saw a small gain between the two Januarys, going from about 1,200 to 1,350 sales. View 14 Photos Mazda's January would've been even better if its conventional cars hadn't dropped so much. Both Mazda Miata and Mazda6 sales dropped by just over half. The Mazda dropped from 3,300 sales to just under 1,600, and the Miata dropped from a little over 900 to a little over 400. Mazda3 held on a little better with just a 12 percent drop from last January going from about 6,600 to 5,800 sales. The lopsidedness of these sales isn't all that surprising. Crossovers have been a boon to loads of manufacturers. For example, Mitsubishi had an 2017 full of sales improvements, with the company finally breaking 100,000 units for the first time in years, and it was all because of improving crossover sales. January's sales also continue an unfortunate downward trend for Mazda's cars, with both the Mazda6 and Mazda3 having month-over-month declines every single month since February. It will be interesting to see if the new turbocharged engine option on the Mazda6 will improve sales of the sedan later this year. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Mazda to relocate its US offices into Irvine's tallest building

Mazda is the latest foreign automaker to be moving its North American headquarters. Only this time, it's not moving further south. Instead, the Japanese automaker is simply relocating to another facility in Irvine, CA. In a little over a year from now, Mazda North American Operations will move to 200 Spectrum Center Drive (pictured in the rendering at right), taking up five of the 21 floors in Orange County's tallest building for a total of over 100,000 square feet of office space. It'll also take up half the lobby with vehicles on display and the exclusive naming rights on the top of the building. The facility, designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, boasts full glass walls from floor to ten-foot ceiling for uninterrupted 360-degree views. Mazda has been in its current US headquarters at 7755 Irvine Center Drive (pictured above) since 1987. The five-story building was specifically constructed for the purpose and was the tallest in Irvine at the time. Prior to that it was based in Compton from 1970. The move to the new facility is scheduled to take place in February, 2017. Mazda's announcement marks only the most recent of foreign automakers to relocate their North American headquarters. Toyota is moving to Texas, Subaru to Camden, Lotus to Ann Arbor, Daimler to Farmington Hills, and Mercedes-Benz to Atlanta (where Porsche recently relocated, as well). Cadillac also recently moved from GM's Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit to its new headquarters in New York. Hyundai and Kia also quarter their North American operations in Irvine, as does Aston Martin. Meanwhile Honda and Toyota (for the time being) are based less than an hour away in Torrance, and Mitsubishi halfway in between in Cypress. Though they no longer sell passenger cars in North America, Isuzu and Suzuki still operate their US bases in SoCal as well, in Anaheim and Brea, respectively – all municipalities located just south of Los Angeles. Nissan and Subaru also base their US operations outside of California, with head offices in Tennessee and New Jersey, respectively. Related Video: Mazda Set To Relocate North American Headquarters in 2017 - With 50 years of roots in Southern Calif., Irvine will remain 'home' for Mazda - IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 11, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) has spent the last three years bringing all-new, upscale vehicles to the U.S. and earning outstanding critical acclaim in the process.