Mazda ready to provide fuel-efficient technology to other carmakers

According to KHABARKHODRO, Mazda Motor Corp. said Thursday that it is prepared to supply other auto manufacturers with its technology that makes gasoline vehicles as fuel-efficient as gasoline-electric hybrid cars.

Mazda President Takashi Yamanouchi also said in an interview in Los Angeles that the automaker plans to maintain domestic output despite harsh exporting conditions amid a strong yen, while expanding overseas production to meet growing demand abroad.

Regarding its "Skyactiv" technology featuring high fuel efficiency, Yamanouchi said Mazda is willing to offer the new technology as it has previously engaged in mutual exchange of vehicles and technologies with other carmakers.

While maintaining output in Japan, he said the automaker is considering boosting production at its Mexico plant, which it plans to start operation in fiscal 2013 to meet expanding demand in North America.

Yamanouchi, who was in the U.S. city for the Los Angeles Auto Show, said the company will be capable of expanding annual output at the Mexico plant from the initially planned 140,000 units to 210,000 units, but it needs to raise the procurement rate of local components in order for the automaker to export cars to the United States from Mexico.

During the auto show, U.S. magazine Green Car Journal has selected Honda Motor Co.'s passenger car the Civic Natural Gas as its green car of the year for 2012, citing its high fuel efficiency and the use of natural gas, which is abundant in the United States.

The car, which runs about 386 kilometers per charge, is available in 36 states such as California and New York.

The car was selected from such finalists as electric vehicles manufactured by Ford Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and a hybrid by Toyota Motor Corp.