Tokyo — Mazda Motor unveiled plans for the world’s first commercial petrol engine using compression ignition, placing traditional engines at the centre of its strategy days after saying it would develop electric cars with Toyota Motor. Mazda, whose research and development (R&D) budget is a fraction of Toyota’s, could be the first vehicle maker to commercialise a technology that many peers, including General Motors and Daimler, have been working on for decades. Mazda said on Tuesday that it would start selling cars equipped with the new engine from 2019, even as other vehicle makers increasingly turn to electric vehicles against a landscape of tightening environmental regulation. "We think it is an imperative and fundamental job for us to pursue the ideal internal combustion engine," said Mazda’s head of R&D, Kiyoshi Fujiwara. While "electrification is necessary … the internal combustion engine should come first", he told reporters. The news follows Mazda’s announcement on Friday of...
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