A pretty big-deal little tidbit slipped out during the recent Mazda technology forum we attended: the company is tinkering with the idea of a diesel powertrain for the next-gen Mazdaspeed 3. And this came straight from Robert Davis, Mazda USA senior VP of product development, who is one of the key guys making these decisions for the U.S. market.
He alleviated some of our skepticism with a few details. First, he says that the younger crowd that is buying the Speed 3 doesn’t have a negative perception of diesels. They likely weren’t around, or were too young to remember the dark days in the 1970s and ‘80s, when diesels got their bad reputation for stinking and smoking. When someone says “diesel” to these people, they instead think of modern and very clean Audi/VWs, BMWs, and Mercedes.
2011 Lexus IS Photo Gallery
2011 Hyundai Equus Photo Gallery
2011 Mercedes-Benz CLS Photo Gallery
2011 Ford Edge Crossover Photo Gallery
Concours D'Elegance Monterey 2010 Photo Gallery
Read Article