The Mazda Skyactiv-Z will be a family of four-cylinder engines that is currently set to debut in 2027.
Now here’s something interesting that Mazda has buried in its recent financial reports — it is currently working on another family of internal combustion engines for the near future! Tentatively dubbed the Skyactiv-Z, this new power plant is said to be of the four-cylinder variety, and it supposedly set to arrive in 2027.
It can further be gleaned from the report that this new engine family will supposedly serve to replace both its current Skyactiv-G and Skyactiv-X power plants. And for those not up to speed with their Mazda engine lingo, the former is what is currently seen on most of their lineup, while the latter is a technical tour-de-force with its novel homogeneous-charge compression-ignition (HCCI) technology that, to put it most kindly, was unfortunately not exactly the hottest seller in the world.
In terms of technical specs meanwhile, Mazda is still electing kept a rather tight lid on the information available. It has however teased for the Skyactiv-Z to take inspiration from the automaker’s newly-launched line of straight-sixes, and will be utilising the ‘lambda one combustion method’ to achieve ‘achieve high thermal efficiency by realising super lean burn combustion over a wide range from low to high rpm’.
Just for those who aren’t mechanical engineers here, lambda (λ) in that context represents the air-fuel equivalence ratio. So when λ = 1.0, the amount of air is perfectly balanced with the fuel during the combustion process, and thus it means that all the fuel is properly burned, with harmful pollutants emitted kept at a minimum.
There has been no word from the Japanese automaker yet on whether this new Skyactiv-Z will be boosted in any way (highly unlikely given the company’s penchant for natural aspiration), or whether this new Skyactiv-Z will be made to work with an electrified component (probably with some help from Toyota?). What is more perhaps certain though is that news of this new ICE does increase the odds of the next-generation MX-5 continuing on as a lightweight sports cars, instead of a hefty EV that most have previously doomed it to be.
And in other related news, Mazda has also recently announced that it is “making smooth progress” on its rotary engine revival. The Japanese automaker has previously dipped its toes back into the Dorito power plant from the introduction of a range-extending rotary generator in its MX-30 EV, with it then announcing earlier this year it intends to further this technology during a joint future ICE development collaborative pact alongside Toyota and Subaru.
