The breakthrough victory was just a few weeks ago at Road Atlanta.  Now, the Mazda team backed it up with another win, this time in the Motor City.  Joel Miller and Tristan Nunez drove the #00 Visit Florida Racing SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesel Mazda6 to the GRAND-AM GX class win.

Miller made the pass for the win after a late race yellow.

SpeedSource team-mates Sylvain Tremblay and Tom Long finished third in their #70 Mazda6.

Just as it was in Georgia, it was a three-way battle for most of the race with a Porsche Cayman splitting the two Mazdas.

The all-new SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesel engine in the all-new Mazda6 is said to be a true production based engine.

The race team said the engine is 51percent stock by parts count, and 63 percent stock by weight.

Mazda said it chose this path to highlight this new diesel engine as it is the most honest way to demonstrate the quality, durability, and reliability of Mazda cars.

“I can’t thank the engineers at both Mazda and SpeedSource enough for the many late nights getting us to this amazing place where we have scored our second win in only our fifth race, said John M. Doonan , Director, Mazda Motorsports , Mazda North American Operations. “I think the team has earned some Florida vacation time, but with races upcoming at Mid-Ohio, and Watkins Glen , those vacations may need to wait.”

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The Canadian arm of Mazda U.S. said SKYACTIV Technology-equipped vehicles accounted for 59 percent of total vehicles sold in April.

Sales of the all-new SKYACTIV Mazda6 shot up by 451percent in April at 711 units, making it the best April sales since 2009. Compared to the first four months of last year, Mazda6 sales are up 148 percent on a year-to-date basis.

“With the addition of the all-new Mazda6 with the new 2.5L SKYACTIV-G engine to our line-up, more and more consumers are experiencing what SKYACTIV is all about,” stated David Klan, senior director of Sales, Marketing and Regional Operations at Mazda Canada.

The compact Mazda3 is still the company’s best-seller with 3,281 units sold in April 2013, which represents a 14 percent drop in comparison to April 2012. Year-to-date, the Mazda3 is up two percent at 12,132 (11,894 units YTD for April 2012).

Mazda Canada sold a total of 4,807 units in April 2013.

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The racecar is powered by a production-based SKYACTIV-D Clean Diesel engine.

Joel Miller and Andrew Carbonell drove the #00 Visit Florida Racing Mazda6 to the win, with team-mates Sylvain Tremblay and Tom Long finishing third in the similar #70 SpeedSource Mazda6 SKYACTIV-D.

It was a three-way battle for most of the race with a Porsche Cayman splitting the two Mazdas.

“The new Mazda6 prepared by SpeedSource ran perfectly,” said Joel Miller, co-driver, #00 Visit Florida Racing Mazda6. “The torque of the SKYACTIV-D pulled up the elevation changes around Road Atlanta circuit strongly and the Mazda6 handled beautifully.  During the course of the race we attacked when needed and paced ourselves when required.  The event had only one caution during the two-hour and 45 minutes race, thus there was hardly any time to relax.”

This win represented a day of firsts for Grand-Am competition and for Mazda Motorsports.  This is the first-ever win for a diesel-powered car in Grand-Am competition.  It also marked the first win for the all-new Mazda6 in any race series.

It was the first Grand-Am race win for drivers Joel Miller and Andrew Carbonell.  Miller is a former Mazda Motorsports Scholarship winner, having won the Skip Barber National Championship in 2007.  Carbonnell has been racing Mazdas with Freedom Autosport for many years, and was part of the team that delivered the 2011 Continental Tire ST Manufacturers Championship to Mazda.

Carbonell was substituting for Miller’s usual teammate, Tristan Nunez, who had a schedule conflict with another race in Long Beach.

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The winner, to be selected among this group, will be announced Friday, April 12 at the Green Living Show, in the Direct Energy Centre at Toronto’s Exhibition Place.

The finalists were selected by members of the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada from a variety of environmentally advanced vehicles nominated by their manufacturers.

The finalists include a plug-in hybrid, three conventional hybrids and a highly efficient internal combustion vehicle.

The finalists are:

- Ford C-MAX Energi

- Ford Fusion Hybrid

- Hyundai Sonata Hybrid

- Mazda3

- Volkswagen Jetta Turbocharged Hybrid

The award, presented by AJAC and Green Living Enterprises, which hosts the annual show, has been launched to recognize vehicles with the potential for strong environmental benefits and to provide consumers with authoritative information about them.

“The judges found the choice difficult because all the entrants are worthy, and they incorporate such differing routes to greener driving,” said Peter Gorrie, chair of AJAC’s Green Car Award steering committee.

The competition placed heavy emphasis on fuel economy and emissions, but also considered other environmental features within each vehicle – for example, use of recycled or naturally sourced materials – and steps each manufacturer has taken to green its operations.  Equally important, it assessed market potential – factors such as build quality, driving experience, overall features, availability, general consumer appeal and price.

“Driving is the most energy-intensive action most people do every day; our hope is this award will shine a light on how folks can improve their health, their planet and their monthly fuel bills, if they have to use a car,” said committee member Michael Bettencourt.

Other nominees included the Chevrolet Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel, Chevrolet Volt, Ford Edge EcoBoost, Ford Focus Electric, Mazda CX-5, Mazda6, Mercedes-Benz B 250 Turbo, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Nissan Leaf and Smart Fortwo Electric Drive.

“After all, a car loaded with ‘green’ features will make a difference only if it sells in large numbers and supplants lesser models,” Gorrie said. “While EVs represent impressive technology that focus might have prevented the four battery-electric nominees from making the final five.”

The association said the award ceremony will take place at 9:45 a.m., Friday April 12 at the Green Living Show’s main stage.

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Mazda sales last month were led by the compact Mazda3, which enjoyed its best March since 2010 and second best March ever with 4,848 sold.

Almost 50 percent of all Mazda3′s sold in March were equipped with the fuel-efficient SKYACTIV Technology.

“Canadians love to buy compact cars, and the Mazda3 with SKYACTIV Technology had a great month in March, which helped Mazda outpace the market,” said Vito Paladino, director of Sales Operations at Mazda Canada. “The popularity of new Mazda vehicles with SKYACTIV Technology continues to shine every month, as consumer awareness continues to grow.”

The CX-5 had the best month on record in March with 1,771 vehicles sold, representing a 7 percent gain over 2012. The 2014 CX-5 is now available with an all-new 2.5L gasoline engine which produces 184 horsepower.

Sales of the all-new SKYACTIV Mazda6 also rose by 17 percent in March, which is also the best March since 2010.

Sales of the Mazda2 subcompact were up 48 percent.

In total, SKYACTIV Technology vehicles accounted for 53 percent of all sales in March.

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The all-new 2014 Mazda6 had its first full month on sale and increased sales by 219 percent over February 2012.

The refreshed 2013 CX-9 also experienced record February sales, jumping 176 percent over 2012. In all, the CX-line of crossovers is up by 59 percent year-over-year.

“The all-new Mazda6 is Mazda’s most technologically advanced vehicle,” said Vito Paladino, Director of Sales Operations at Mazda Canada. “And with its sleek and attractive styling, excellent fuel economy, and outstanding value, consumers are taking notice.”

The Mazda3 compact sedan and hatchback also saw sales increase by 4 percent year-over-year with 2,345 total sales for February, making this the Mazda3′s best February since 2010.

With the addition of the fully-SKYACTIV Mazda6 in the line-up, sales of vehicles equipped with the fuel-saving SKYACTIV Technology equaled 55 percent of all Mazda Canada sales in February 2013.

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SKYACTIV Technology maintained its prominence in Mazda sales in Canada, with 56 percent of the 5,220 Mazda vehicles sold in November being equipped by said technology.

The Mazda3 with SKYACTIV Technology also dominated the sales figures, representing over 70 percent of all 2,752 Mazda3s sold in Canada in November.

This is good news for the company’s future lineup. Mazda showed last week the North American-spec 2014 Mazda6 at the Los Angeles Auto Show, which will be available with a 2.2L SKYACTIV-D clean diesel engine in the second half of 2013. Other SKYACTIV news from the Los Angeles Auto Show included the updated 2014 CX-5, which will be available next year with a new 2.5L SKYACTIV-G engine.

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Mazda North American Operations announced today it will show its mid-sized diesel TAKERI concept at the New York Auto Show on April 4.

The company says it will be the first Mazda concept to make use of a 2.2-liter SKYACTIV clean diesel, and will include other fuel-saving technologies.

Among these are a couple that are not to be confused with anything made by Apple – one is Mazda’s “i-stop” idling stop system, and another is “the world’s first” capacitor-based regenerative braking system called “i-ELOOP.”

Mazda says the stop-start system restarts the engine in a single cycle – faster than other stop-start systems that take two cycles, and resulting in “the world’s fastest” diesel restart of 0.4 seconds.

The regenerative braking system called i-ELOOP is said to improve fuel economy by as much as 10 percent by supplying power to the vehicle’s electric equipment. The way it works is similar to other such systems, albeit relying on a capacitor to store energy generated upon deceleration.

As for styling, Mazda’s “KODO” design language is made up in part by a swooping hood and crisp lines along with an “eagle-eyed” five-point grille, overall muscular styling and 20-inch wheels.

The car looks sharp, is said to be efficient, but at this point Mazda is not stating fuel mileage, production plans or price. We expect more information after next week’s unveiling.

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You have to give Mazda credit. When NSU gave up on Felix Wankel’s smooth but thirsty and problematic rotary engine in the mid-1970s, Toyo Kogyo, having launched it in the futuristic 1967 Mazda Cosmo Sport 110, continued development, leading to the hallowed line of RX-7 sports cars and more recently the four-door RX-8.

However, despite considerable advancements, including notable increases in power, along with lower emissions and better reliability, the engine’s apex seals, as well as fuel economy have remained an Achilles’ heel. Even today’s RX-8 struggles to achieve more than 23 mpg on a good run.

As a result, with tougher fuel economy and emissions standards on the horizon, once RX-8 production ends in June, it won’t have a replacement, at least in the short term.

We say short term, because according to Mazda’s general manager, powertrain development, Mitsuo Hitomi, the Hiroshima-based automaker has been working on a next-generation rotary that will be capable of meeting future government fuel mileage and smog output regulations.

“We think we’ve found a way to improve the rotary’s fuel economy to be truly equal to that of conventional piston engines and if so, we believe we can reintroduce the rotary to market,” he said speaking to Ward’s Auto.

As to how this can be achieved, Hitomi so far hasn’t revealed much, but did say that by altering the shape of the engine’s troichoid housing, the apex seals can remain flush with it, essentially eliminating one of the biggest issues, namely that gas pressure in the combustion chamber causes the seals to lift at low rpm, causing blow-by and thus potentially engine failure.

By aligning the seals flush with the chamber and replacing the spark plugs with a laser injection system (the traditional recessed location of the plugs on a rotary tends to cause spark issues, requiring more fuel for ignition), the result is noticeably better fuel economy.

Combined with the rotary’s traditional attributes of smoothness, compact dimensions and high specific power output for displacement, this technology could make it suitable as a range extending generator for future electric vehicles, something that Hitomi hinted during his interview with Ward’s.

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What do you call the propulsion system of a Mazda 6 having a Toyota Prius hybrid drivetrain shoe-horned in? Mazda Hybrid Synergy Drive?

No word on that question has been given, but spy photos of a possible 2013 hybrid under development using a blend of Mazda/Prius hardware have been circulating the Web.

It is believed Mazda, despite its “Zoom Zoom” ode to petrol power slogan is grasping for ways to electrically improve efficiency in light of increased worldwide governmental pressures on it and all automakers.

The Mazda 6 test mule has a gear lever from a Prius, along with the rest of the Prius hybrid tech in keeping with a licensing agreement made last year between Mazda and Toyota.

Mazda says the tuning will be all Mazda however, as will the internal combustion engine to be mated to the Toyota hybrid side of things.

The car anticipated to be launched late 2012 or some time in 2013 is rumored to be indeed a Mazda 6 – not some other design being cloaked for now by the Mazda 6 body. Going this route will save Mazda hundreds of millions compared to developing a totally new car.

The engine could be a variant of the Skyactiv gas-powered four cylinder. A 163-horsepower version due in the 2012 Mazda 3 is said to deliver a respectable 40 mpg without any form of electric assist, and would be ideal for hybridization.

In comparison, a Toyota Prius’ combined output is 134 horsepower, so the 6 with gas-plus-electric propulsion ought to be more zoomier in a concession to Mazda’s diluted mantra as the company dips its toes cautiously into the hybrid waters.

A diesel variant to the Skyactiv engine is also in the works, but costs would be amplified to use it in the hybrid Mazda 6, so bets are it will be gas-electric.

Mazda will also launch at least one diesel-powered vehicle in the U.S. market for 2012.

Its hybrid effort is definitely a conservative one in licensing and adopting Toyota’s already proven designs.

AutoGuide

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