Mazda’s journey on the road to electrification is somewhat different to everyone else’s.
Whereas many manufacturers are putting hero battery electric vehicles – plural – in their range or supplementing these with plug-in hybrid vehicles, Mazda is putting its stock in mild hybrid technology.
Yes, Mazda has fielded a BEV in the form of the MX-30, albeit one with a small battery and constrained range without compromising Mazda’s core for the joy of driving ‘Zoom Zoom’ philosophy.
Mazda’s proprietary mild hybrid tech – which in typical Mazda fashion – is different from regular mild hybrid tech and is available in both the MX-30 and now the CX-30 SP20 Blackout Edition.
It does seem there was a competition for the longest title for the (big breath) Mazda CX-30 SP20 Blackout Edition Mild hybrid and the (big breath again) e-Skyactiv G 2.0L engine with the Mild Hybrid system? If so, who won?
Mazda would say “the consumer” and possibly, not incorrectly. The standard CX-30 range has struck a winning chord with many, so to have one with some super clever ‘leccy tech can’t be a bad thing.
Note, we said – some – super clever ‘leccy tech. Yes, the CX-30 SP (let’s just keep it simple) does have a lithium-ion battery, being a mild hybrid.
Most MH’s run to 48-volt systems, enabling more onboard stuff to use the captured braking and decelerating energy of the vehicle, but again, Mazda has gone a different route – the CX-30 SP has a compact 24-volt Lithium-Ion battery onboard.
There is also an integrated starter generator which assists with take-off, the idle/stop function and provides a smidge of additional drive power, but for the most part, the system handles power distribution to everything the engine – which in addition to its primary role – would also have to run.
This means the principal functions of a mild hybrid – reduced emissions and improved fuel efficiency – can be met, with official figures from Mazda showing seven litres per 100km and a 165gm/km CO2 output on the 3P-WLTP test regime, from the two-litre mild hybrid.
Which does bring us to what needs to be addressed, the SP model descriptor. This was an interesting decision for Mazda to make, given SP would normally denote a performance model.
The mild-hybrid does deliver performance – just not performance in the traditional Mazda-Speed context.
And the SP does give Mazda the opportunity to imbue some performance appearance features; red-stitched interior, black accentuated exterior and a new exterior colour, Platinum Quartz, all of which distinguish the SP20 from the entry level GSX and the AWD GTX with its larger engine.
As far as the rest of it goes, the SP20 carries everything the CX-30 range does.
All CX-30 models have an extensive list of features including active driving display, onboard satellite navigation, Android AutoTM/Apple CarPlay connectivity, reversing camera, AEB Smart Brake Support (with night-time pedestrian and cyclist detection), Lane Departure Warning, Blind Spot Monitoring, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Mazda Radar Cruise Control.
The CX-30 also has an a five-year warranty and five-year Mazda On-Call Roadside Assistance with five-year/100,000km (whichever comes first) Genuine Mazda Scheduled Servicing at no extra cost.
