An interesting piece of news from Mazda recently, with the announcement that the brand is looking to drop its six cylinder engine and stay exclusively “Yep, right – up to four-cylinder, not only four-cylinder,” he said, before adding: “Maybe a three-cylinder, or two.” according to Shin Okamoto, a senior Mazda engineer. He was asked if Mazda’s “Sky-Activ” tech would be used on a six cylinder powerplant (Mazda’s last remaining six is in the CX-9) and said “I don’t think so, we don’t increase the [number of cylinders] any more.”
With turbo technology reaching the limits of effectiveness and supercharging more the realm of V8s, is this a new world we’re seeing, with engine development, direct injection and better computer usage being the next step?