Mazda CEO Says Electric Cars Coming in 2019
November 16 2016 - 5:00PM
Dow Jones News
TOKYO—The chief executive of Mazda Motor Corp. said the company
plans to start selling electric vehicles in 2019, joining rivals at
home that face tightening emission standards abroad.
"We've set the goal at 2019 to accommodate the ZEV regulations
in North America," Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai said in a group
interview, referring to rules in California and some other states
that mandate rising sales of zero-emission vehicles.
Nissan Motor Co. has sold its Leaf electric vehicle since 2010
and Toyota Motor Corp. said this month it wanted to get itself
ready for commercializing electric cars.
Mr. Kogai said Mazda would add original features to its electric
cars to differentiate itself. He said engineers were looking at
ways to keep the cars running longer when the battery was nearly
dead.
Mazda and Toyota last year said they would build a long-term
partnership on car technology. Representatives from the two
companies said collaboration on electric vehicles was an option but
nothing was decided. Mr. Kogai said they weren't considering a
capital tie-up.
Meanwhile, Mazda also plans to offer a diesel engine in its CX-5
model for North America from the second half of 2017, the auto
maker's first diesel model in the region.
Mazda's CX-5 accounts for a quarter of its global volume, with
370,000 units sold in the year ended March 2016.
Write to Megumi Fujikawa at megumi.fujikawa@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 16, 2016 16:45 ET (21:45 GMT)
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