Mazda's economical new engines

Mazda has released details of its next-generation petrol and diesel engines, which are claimed to offer significant economy savings compared with existing engines.

More efficient petrol engines
The new 'SKY-G' petrol engine uses an advanced direct injection system that can apply several different settings to maximise economy. There's also a new, low-friction engine block.

Mazda says that the SKY-G engine will be around 15% more efficient than its current 2.0-litre petrol engine.

Economical diesels
Even bigger improvements are claimed for the new 'SKY-D' diesel engine.
The engine also has a low-friction engine block, but gets a two-stage turbocharger and piezo fuel injectors for up to 20% better fuel economy than the company's current 2.2-litre diesel engine.

Mazda 2 economy for Mazda 6-size car
The company says that the new diesel engine will be able to deliver fuel economy equivalent to that of the current Mazda 2 in a car that's the size of the Mazda 6.

If these improvements translate into the actual mpg achieved by production models, then they should boost the fuel economy of the Mazda 6 2.2D to an average of around 60mpg.

Unfortunately, Mazda buyers are going to have to wait to see the improvements, because production versions of the SKY-G and SKY-D engines won't be launched until 2011.