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Did Mazda designer Derek Jenkins leave to head up a 'Stealth Project?'

Not long after Derek Jenkins officially gave the 2016 MX-5 Miata to the buying world, he's left the Mazda building. Jalopnik reported that the head of design for Mazda North America changed the current job description on his LinkedIn profile to "Stealth Project." Mazda backed up the discovery with this reply to Jalop's inquiry: Derek left Mazda last Friday. He left on great terms in order to work on a new endeavor. We wish him the best of luck. He will be missed, but we are sure that he will do great things in the next chapter of his career. That "last Friday" would be July 17. Emphasizing the "stealth" bit in his new position, as far as we can tell, Jenkins still hasn't publicly answered any question about what he's doing. Every automaker has secrets, but traditional automakers usually make a hubbub about hiring big-name designers, especially one with Jenkins' resume. For his new employer to go all Ghost Recon with all information, well that's the kind of mystery this summer needs. The obvious culprit would be a certain fruit-named company in a certain Cupertino, CA office park. If that ends up being the case, Jenkins would be the second chief designer at Mazda NA to go electric: he replaced Franz von Holzhausen in the position after von Holzhausen went to Tesla. Various other Apple Project Titan hires have made the news, though. For all we know, Jenkins' project might not be automotive. So let's just go ahead and cue the speculation. We're looking forward to whatever he's got coming, and to whoever gets nominated to keep the full head of Zoom-Zoom going at Mazda NA.

How Mazda got Skyactiv-X to work is incredible

"Take everything you know about engines and turn it around," Mazda North America Vehicle Development Engineer Dave Coleman says, patiently and with a look of benevolent pity, as he's quizzed about the particulars of the company's new engine. The Skyactiv-X engine is enigmatic — and deceptively simple in operation. And the bottom line for American consumers is that they'll be able to buy a car (or crossover; we don't know yet what vehicle will first get it) by late 2019 that provides diesel-like fuel economy but runs on regular old gasoline. In between diesel and spark ignition, but it's neither To truly understand it, you have to dive into the contradictions. Take that regular old gasoline: Contrary to common sense, the lower the octane, the better it works. In the lab, the Skyactiv-X engine loves 80 octane. The lowest Americans get is 87, so the engine is tuned for that octane. Go higher and you lose some low-end torque. Coleman was right. It's hard to wrap your head around an engine that thrives just at the point when most gas engines would aggressively self-destruct. It uses a supercharger to pump additional air — but not additional fuel. It uses spark plugs to start a combustion cycle that normally doesn't need a spark. And, quixotically, it's not displacing Mazda's own American-market diesel engine, currently languishing in a seemingly endless hell of regulatory approval. More bizarre: Mazda is a tiny automaker facing real existential headwinds, and gasoline compression ignition is a massive challenge. GM and Hyundai announced compression ignition, or HCCI, projects (full name, homogeneous charge compression ignition) to great fanfare, but they never amounted to a production hill of beans, crippled by reliability issues or horrible vibrations. Worse, they only worked at an unusably narrow range — low RPMs and low loads. HCCI research improved direct-injection gas and diesel engine technologies for these companies, but HCCI itself remains untamed. The benefits of lean combustion Why even try to tame HCCI? The answer is much better fuel economy and lower emissions. Less burned carbon-based fuel, less carbon dioxide released. That's simple. But there are some thermodynamic reasons for the lean combustion you can achieve with compression ignition that are worth explaining. The ideal amount of fuel for a conventional engine to burn is about a 14:1 air-to-fuel ratio. That lets every molecule burn nicely, in theory.

Lucid Air and Maserati MC20 unveiled | Autoblog Podcast #644

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Byron Hurd. Before they get to the juicy news of the week, they chat about the cars they've been driving, including a Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R, Audi A6 Allroad, Mazda CX-9 and Kia Niro. It's been a busy week in the news department, with GM investing in Nikola, Lucid Motors launching the Air electric sedan, Maserati unveiling the MC20 mid-engined supercar and a farewell to the Lexus GS. Then they talk about having a newfound respect for the Fox Body Mustang and the Mazda CX-9. Autoblog Podcast #644 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 Cars we're driving 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350R 2020 Audi A6 Allroad 2020 Mazda CX-9 2020 Kia Niro GM buys $2 billion stake in Nikola, will build Badger hydrogen-electric pickup Update: Short-seller accuses Nikola of fraud and Nikola threatens to sue Lucid Air production electric luxury sedan is a dream revealed Lucid Air's modular powertrain opens up serious performance possibilities Lucid Motors teases electric SUV at Air debut Mid-engined, 621-horsepower MC20 inaugurates a new era for Maserati All future Maseratis will borrow styling cues from the MC20  2023 Maserati MC20 Folgore planned with three-motor electric powertrain Lexus GS dead for 2021 Respect to: Fox Body Mustang Mazda CX-9 Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: