Mazda Still Has No Plans for Electric Vehicles

After the 2009 Detroit auto show, where every manufacturer that showed had an array of just-around-the-corner plug-in electric or hybrid vehicles, Mazda remains insistent that it has no plans to follow the trend, but that it will stick by its high-performance gasoline engines.

So either Mazda is very brazenly bucking what it sees as a fad that will pass, or the people in charge are living dangerously with the current pulse of the country.

As the president of Mazda North America, Jim O’Sullivan, put it to the Detroit News, “We will not go somewhere unless its ‘zoom-zoom.’”

Mazda’s brand is largely built on the sporty nature of its vehicles, which stick with four- and six-cylinder engines that tend to get poorer mileage than their direct competitors, but are generally peppier for their respective classes. For example, the Mazda3 lags well behind the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic in fuel economy, but it’s also more fun to drive.

On the other hand, Mazda does have a growing interest in hydrogen (it already has its first hydrogen models on the road in Japan, where infrastructure challenges aren’t nearly as daunting) and plans to raise the fuel economy of its fleet by 30% by 2015. Since Mazda is positioned as more of a niche brand, focusing on sportiness may be a wise move, as long as mileage doesn’t dip even lower when compared with the competition.

Mazda Has No Plans for Electric Vehicles (Detroit News)