Unlike the Asian nation’s other major carmakers, Mazda is yet to offer an alternative to its petrol or diesel engines for UK buyers, but this is set to change in 2019.
Speaking to Auto Express at the Geneva Motor Show this month, Mazda officials said they would aim to release a smaller sized EV, which is expected to rival the likes of the Renault ZOE.
“(A fully electric car) is one of the possibilities we are examining,” European R&D boss Matsuhiro Tanaka said.
“A small car is best for an EV because bigger vehicles get too heavy with bigger batteries, and that doesn’t make sense for Mazda.
“If we put in heavy batteries, we need to do the opposite with the total weight. We are going to develop a new material technology in the future [to deal with this].”
It is expected that from 2021, the company will look to grow its range of EVs by introducing a number of plug-in hybrids.
“We are developing a concept with hybrid power,” Tanaka said.
“We already introduced a hybrid (Mazda 3) in Japan, so we have the technology.”
The Mazda 3 hybrid, which is only available in Japan, uses technology from Toyota as part of a continuing partnership between the two companies.
While Tanaka was unable to confirm, the idea of returning to Mazda’s staple rotary engine in a range-extending capacity, providing power to charge a battery, rather than driving the wheels has been floated.
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