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This Fall Mazda will introduce the 2012 Mazda3, sporting the first use of the automaker's new SkyActiv technologies in North America. Full details about the engine aren't yet available, but it is a 1.6-liter and uses direct injection. That car won't, however, be the first ever model to receive a new SkyActiv engine, with Mazda planning to introduce a SkyActiv-equipped Mazda2 in its home market of Japan – where it goes by the name Demio.
The new 1.3-liter 4-cylinder has an ultra-high compression ratio of 14.0:1 and features both direct-injection and dual sequential valve timing system to achieve 83-hp at 5400 rpm and 83 lb-ft of torque at 4000 rpm.
Mated to a CVT transmission and an updated start-stop system, fuel economy for the new engine is rated at 70 mpg on the Japanese test cycle.
Mazda will first introduce the new engine this week at the Automotive Engineering Exposition in Tokyo, Japan, before it finds its way into a facelifted version of the Demio later this year. Mazda has not said if the 1.3-liter could find its way under the hood of the U.S.-spec Mazda2, but in a release the company outlined how the SkyActive technologies are part of a plan to reduce the automakers global fuel economy 30 percent by 2015.
More: Mazda2 Getting New SkyActiv Direct-Injection 1.3-Liter Engine in Japan on AutoGuide.com
