Mazda licenses Prius tech

29th March 2010

Mazda has announced that it will build a hybrid using Toyota’s Prius technology. The car is due to go on sale in Japan in 2013 and will use a licensed version of the Hybrid Synergy Drive electric system. Mazda will pair this with one of its next generation engines, codenamed SKYTECH.

The move is part of Mazda’s ‘sustainable zoom zoom’ vision of the future that will see the average fuel economy of the firm’s vehicles improve by 30 per cent by 2015.

The brand plans to implement a rage of measures to achieve this. As well as new engines and an efficient six—speed auto transmission, which arrive in 2011, the firm is working hard to reduce the weight of its new cars, by using composite materials and new, low mass plastics. Wider use of the i-stop stop start system and regenerative braking is also planned.