With all the hype about Mazda’s rotary engine, the Japanese automaker is fond of talking about its future, often offering statements that will excite Zoom-Zoom fans everywhere. We all know that it’s only a matter of time (and interest) before Mazda launches its rotary-powered sports car, but there’s another segment that the automaker is seriously considering re-entering – the pickup truck segment.
Mazda
Mazda is a Japanese automaker founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co and only started producing vehicles in 1931 when it made the Mazda-Go auto rickshaw. The Japanese automaker’s first official car arrived in May 1960 when the Mazda R360 launched, starting Mazda as we know it today, although the Mazda name was only adopted in 1984. Mazda has a rich history in motorsport, including the honor of being the only manufacturer to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans with a car not powered by a reciprocating engine.
- Founded
-
January 30, 1920 (as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co)
- Founder
-
Jujiro Matsuda
- Headquarters
-
Hiroshima, Japan
- Owned By
-
Publicly Traded
- Current CEO
-
Masahiro Moro
In an interview with Car and Driver, Mazda CEO Masahiro Moro said that the company has received requests from its data partners for a small pickup truck. Admittedly, Moro knows Mazda has a problem with that request – it doesn’t have a platform for a pickup. It was in 2009 when Mazda last sold a pickup truck in America, and even back then, the B-Series trucks were merely Mazda-badged Ford Ranger pickups. That was over 15 years ago, but Moro is still open to using the same strategy as before.
“We could work with other OEMs to get it. Pickup truck is good for many people. Our coverage of the total industry is only 50 percent because we don’t have a pickup truck. It’s good time to think about a future portfolio.”
– Masahiro Moro, Mazda CEO
It Needs To Be Made In America
That’s not to say that Mazda doesn’t already have a pickup truck on offer. It does have the Mazda BT-50, sold in Australia and some parts of Asia as a midsize truck that rivals the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, and Isuzu D-Max. However, the D-Max-based BT-50 is more of an Isuzu rather than a Mazda, with only its styling being attributed to the Hiroshima-based automaker.
Related
The Rotary-Engined Pickup Truck You’ve Never Heard Of
Discover the wild story of Mazda’s REPU, the fascinating and flawed rotary-powered pickup truck experiment from the 1970s.
If Mazda is serious about returning to the pickup segment in the US, it needs to be manufactured in the US, not only to curb the current US government tariffs against imported goods but also to skirt around the long-running, dreaded chicken tax. This should be in similar vein to Hyundai partnering with GM for an American truck.
Bringing Back The Sporty Sedan
Moro isn’t just interested in offering a small pickup truck. The Japanese head honcho is also interested in offering a sporty sedan, a segment that he thinks has shrunk but is still popular with fans. “We’ve got a really beautiful concept. We already have this idea. We are able to install a six-cylinder, but marketability remains a concern,” Moro told C&D.
Related
Kia Confirms New Midsize Pickup Truck For America… No, It’s Not The Tasman
After confirming that the Tasman is not coming to North America, the Korean marque reveals more details of it’s American-bound pickup truck.
With Mazda on the cusp of revealing its newly developed combustion engine in the next-generation CX-5, there are several possibilities in this regard. The SkyActiv-Z gasoline engine is promising, with an inline-six version to be offered after the four-pot hits the market. We’ll know more concrete details as they come, but right now, Mazda’s future portfolio of a rotary-engined sports car, a sporty sedan, and possibly a pickup truck sounds like a dream.
Source: Car and Driver
#Mazda #Returning #Pickup #Segment
