The start of the year usually has a pleasant familiarity to it – CES and Detroit shows and, in my case just this morning, often the first taste of winter snow. Also, in my case, hopefully the last sprinkle (it melted by lunch o’clock) as neither I nor the UK does snow. I always watch with amazement as friends in the US north east and midwest dig themselves out from up to eight feet of the stuff and carry on. We’d come to a grinding halt till about March and I’d move to southern California.
Shows – which is better (?) is a fun way to start an early new year argument so one of our number raised his view above the parapet. Did CES trump (sorry) Detroit for future vision? The prez-elect continued to wind up the industry about Mexico as he welcomed announcements such as this one from FCA on the eve of Detroit (getting a lot of detail on both FCA and earlier news from Ford wrong in a press conference) and I was amused to note the number of times phrases like ‘made in America’ and ‘American jobs’ were used in various announcements from the show. While the consumer boys excite over new Camry, Odyssey, LS and the like, the shows always bring up interesting components and concepts and I was intrigued at the automated driving cockpit from Adient (much easier to say than Johnson Controls Interior Experience), related new steering tech from Nexteer and a new lightweight door module from Magna and friends. We’ve wrapped coverage from both shows into one handy pack here.
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Shows, snow, what really interested you discerning lot this week was news of Mazda’s new compression ignition engine. Yawn, another Skyactiv (repeat in capitals 80 times in one press release) diesel. Next! No. We’ll not escape multiple mentions of Skyactiv – G, in this case, but this new motor sure is interesting: 30% higher fuel efficiency by using pressure, not spark plugs, to ignite fuel in the cylinders. ‘Homogeneous charge compression ignition’ or HCCI to its friends. Mock the overuse of the tag in press releases, I will, but, when I finally had a Mazda rep explain in plain English a few years ago that Skyactiv is a brand name for a series of technologies which increase fuel efficiency and engine output, and tried a diesel 6, it was one of the best oil burners I have ever driven. Can’t wait to try this new petrol which we will see in 2018 in the next Mazda 3 (Axela in Japan), followed by other models. The technology brand took a bow with new engines, transmissions, body, and chassis from 2011.
As with most things in the auto industry, everyone’s at it in some form or another so one of our QUBE analysts dived in for a deeper look and I think you’ll find his article fascinating – check out ‘plug-assisted HCCI’ and other ideas.
The other predictable thing about the start of a new year is the ‘how we did last year’ announcements. Results, we’ve had a few – including record sales by Jaguar Land Rover, and Mercedes gleefully (and earlier then expected) knocking BMW off its premium segment leader perch (brand, not group results, note).
Finally, dieselgate surfaced again as details of a VW settlement with the US were announced (this does not get them off the hook by any means) and regulatory attention has turned to FCA which looks like being an interesting scrap to start this year.
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By GlobalDataHave a nice weekend. Avoid snow.
Graeme Roberts, Deputy Editor, just-auto.com
