Mazda’s manufacturing prowess brings its SkyActiv technology and Kodo design to life

THE MAZDA CX-5 is assembled on a spotless, world-class manufacturing facility in Hiroshima.

Mazda is a car company with a rich and colorful history. Coming up on its 100th anniversary in 2020, Mazda Corp. is a company born out of adversity. On the 70th birthday of its founder, the first atomic bomb was dropped on its hometown of Hiroshima. At the time, the company’s main product was a three-wheeled delivery vehicle called the Green Panel. After the devastation of the atomic bomb, Toyo Kogyo, as Mazda was known then, was determined to get back on its wheels, resuming production barely weeks later.

Those origins and extreme challenges early in its life ingrained in the company culture an attitude of determination. Mazda will always be the scrappy underdog, the little company that could. After a fruitful alliance with Ford, Mazda was once again left to fend for itself after Ford decided to divest its shares in the company. Once mired in financial crisis itself, the company is now among the more successful of Japan’s smaller carmakers.

MAZDA’S SkyActiv engines require tight tolerances and new production methods.

Mazda has two key technologies in its arsenal. The first is its SkyActiv fuel efficiency technology. With both governments requiring less emissions and consumers turning to fuel-efficient vehicles, carmakers have had to be innovative in their approach to the internal combustion engine (ICE). While some carmakers have opted for electric-hybrid systems and others for downsizing the engine and turbocharging it, Mazda has decided to stick to the traditional ICE but with a twist. Mazda’s gasoline engines are high compression, meaning the fuel is compressed to a much smaller volume before it is detonated by the spark plug. The 14:1 compression ratio allows the engine to produce more power and torque, while also cutting emissions and fuel consumption. This high compression ratio is partly why diesels can deliver greater torque while consuming less fuel. That kind of high compression is achievable in a laboratory, but Mazda is the first automaker to successfully deploy the technology for mass-production automobiles. Interestingly, Mazda’s diesel engines are relatively low compression for diesels, still at a 14:1 ratio.

SkyActiv technology also includes the transmissions to match these engines. Mazda has designed six-speed manual and automatics to maximize the engines’ efficiency potential. The automatics are designed to shift quicker and to lock up their torque converters under a greater range of conditions, to avoid the loss of power usually associated with automatics.

The other significant component of SkyActiv is the highly rigid body shell. Mazda uses high-strength steel for crucial parts of the frame. A SkyActiv chassis uses complex shapes within the metal to increase rigidity and make it more resistant to deforming in a collision. Every effort is made to save weight. Insulation and vibration dampers are sprayed on, for example, instead of being glued on in sheets, as is traditionally done.

The result of all of this is some of the most fuel-efficient cars in their class: The Mazda2 easily tops 10 kilometer per liter in city driving, while the CX-5 got 8 kpl in a recent drive. The Mazda6 2.5-liter midsize sedan is capable of 7 kpl in city driving, with its auto start-stop engine and i-ELoop energy-recovery system.

All that technology would be of no use if the cars they came in looked ugly. Here’s where the other half of Mazda’s recipe for success comes in: styling. Mazda’s cars have pleasantly attractive since 2004, but since the Shinari show car debuted in Milan in 2010, the heat has certainly turned up. The Shinari is the first Mazda car to showcase its Kodo–Soul of Motion design language. Kodo has since been the theme for the midsize 6, compact 3, subcompact 2, CX-5 crossover, and now the MX-5 roadster.

Flowing lines and complex surfaces are to be expected for concept cars and show vehicles, but a lot of design touches are lost in the translation to a production model. Mazda’s Monotsukuri manufacturing innovation incorporates the faithful translation of a design to the production automobile. This is done by rigorous simulation of the metal stamping process. Fabrication of the dies in the process use high-precision machining to reproduce all the curves and complex surfaces of the concept car in the production model. Looking at the Mazda6 and its concept predecessor, the Takeri, it is remarkable how much of the concept made it to the production 6.

Mazda’s manufacturing innovation is to produce many varieties in relatively small volumes. Traditionally, cars were built on the few varieties, large volume model. The common architecture underpinning the current generation of Mazda cars makes this possible. Yet each model is still true to its stated mission, whether it’s the taller CX-5 or the subcompact 2.

Translating all of the design and technology into the finished product is the responsibility of Mazda’s remarkable manufacturing facilities. The main production line occupies 55 hectares in Hiroshima and stretches 7 kilometers along Hiroshima Bay. Mazda has factories in other locations such as Hofu, Japan, and Thailand. The Hiroshima and Hofu plants produced nearly a million vehicles in 2014, with the company producing more than 1.3 million total. Mazda is a small car company only by comparison to the Japanese big three and auto industry behemoths.

Spotlessly clean as is the norm in Japanese factories, Mazda’s Hiroshima assembly line incorporates many innovations big and small. Flexible production allows the MX-5, CX-5, CX-3 and Mazda 8 minivan to be assembled one after the other on one line. The most visible result of Mazda’s manufacturing innovation is the new Soul Red paint. Using a different type of layering, and precise alignment of the metal particles within the reflective layer of the paint, Mazda is able to achieve that shimmering, shade-changing paint that brings the curves of the MX-5 and other models to life. Was all that effort worth it? Judging by the owners’ smiles and hands touching the curves of the MX-5 during the cars’ turnover, every precise 2 microns of paint, and 0.21-cc variation in every engine was a job well done. Just wait until they drive them.

Text and photos by Jason K. Ang