Mazda’s Skyactiv-X Engine Won’t Be Coming to America—Yet

From the moment Mazda announced its plan to launch the SkyActiv-X in the United States, interested buyers have waited eagerly for its arrival.

The SkyActiv-X is deemed to be a revolutionary product from the Japanese automaker with its Spark Controlled Compression Ignition technology. But it looks like there’s been a significant delay in the engine’s U.S. debut and customers are wondering why.

In a recent interview, Mazda shared its concerns over the SkyActiv-X’s current power and how American consumers will view it once it gets released.

Apparently, the 2.0-liter SkyActiv-X engine is currently rated at 178 horsepower and 186 lb-ft of torque, which is noticeably less than the 186-horsepower and 186 lb-ft of torque produced by the 2.5-liter SkyActiv-G engine that’s currently powering the Mazda3.

While the upcoming SkyActiv-X has a nine percent return in fuel economy, it’s still at a 27 percent premium over the base engine.

According to the report, Mazda is worried American customers won’t be willing to pay a premium for an engine that is less powerful and has an unimpressive increase in fuel economy.

“Maybe U.S. customers require more power because fuel economy is not the top requirement,” Mazda engineer Yoshiaki Yamane said.

To address the concern, Mazda is looking to make the SkyActiv-X more powerful for the U.S. market to compensate for the higher retail price.

Mazda was revealed to be working on a new Large Architecture that will underpin future models from the company. The Large Architecture is reportedly capable of handling a larger straight-six SkyActiv-X engine, which is expected to add more power to the engine.

But until this new platform and larger SkyActiv-X are developed, it looks like the engine won’t be coming to America just yet.