Mazda goes for diesel touchdown

MAZDA is considering a diesel passenger car assault on the giant US market as it ramps up its range of oil-burners.

The strategy was revealed by the company’s global sales, marketing and customer relations chief, Stephen Odell, during his recent visit to Australia for the launch of the Mazda3.

"I really believe the demand for diesels is going to grow in the US," Mr Odell said.

Mazda currently concentrates its turbo-diesel sales on the booming European market. The Mazda6 has offered two variants of the 2.0-litre MZR-CD engine since 2002, while a 1.6-litre engine is about to go on sale as part of the Mazda3 range.

The 2.0-litre engines are based on the MZR petrol engine family and produce either 89kW or 100kW and 310Nm. A new version launched at the Tokyo motor show last year has 110kW and 360Nm.

The 1.6-litre is a Ford-Peugeot co-development that produces 80kW and 240Nm. It currently has a Euro Stage III emission rating but a Stage IV version with a particulate filter will be launched in the European summer.

"I think Stage IV is the opportunity for us to start looking at the US market with diesel as well," said Mr Odell.

Like Australia, the US passenger car turbo-diesel market is only a small percentage of sales, with European brands dominating.

Mr Odell said diesel suffered from the same stigma in the US as it did in the Australia.

"I think there has been a lot of disinformation and misunderstanding," he said.

"General Motors had a strong push on diesels 15 years or so ago and there was a big concern about particulate contamination, which Stage IV diesels overcome.

"So I think you will start to see diesel growth, but I can’t predict how quickly."Mr Odell said he had dramatically underestimated the potential of diesel when he had been working at Ford of Europe, before transferring to Mazda.

"I was a member of a Ford sales and planning distribution team where we were trying to predict diesel demand and whether we needed another plant for Europe," he said.

"At the time diesel was about 10 per cent of the mix in the industry and we absolutely assured ourselves that diesel could not grow beyond 15 per cent, there was no way.

"And now I think it’s about 33 per cent of the industry, and in some segments and markets it’s 70-80 per cent!"Mr Odell said he expected the growth to continue because of the efficiency of the engine.

"Ultimately the efficiency of and cost of developing the fuel and refining it, and just cost of ownership over a five or six-year period of time more than pays back," he said.

"Diesels tend to be more expensive to develop and put in the marketplace but the payback for consumers is really quite quick."* Mazda Australia has been investigating the introduction of turbo-diesel technology to Australia in its passenger car range for some time, but do not expect to see anything here before 2005, at the earliest.