Future Cars

Even though Mazda’s MX-5 Miata sports car is lightweight, small, and easy on gas, those environmental positives won’t be enough to save it from the automaker’s eventual pivot to full electrification. But that doesn’t mean the Miata is going anywhere. In a technical briefing for media about the company’s “Medium-Term Technology and Product Policy,” the chief technical officer revealed that the Mazda roadster would be included in plans for lineup-wide electrification by 2030. The news snuck out via the Kamura News , a Japanese publication that listened in on the briefing call. Mazda plans to be fully electrified—with 25 percent of its models fully battery-electric and the other 75 percent incorporating hybrid or PHEV technology—by 2030, joining many other automakers making similar pledges for roughly the same time in the future. And Mazda has confirmed the executive wasn’t using the wrong talking points, releasing this official statement summarizing its Miata plans: “Mazda is seek...

We’re in the midst of a blizzard of 2022 Honda Civic news, and it looks like the flurries will keep on coming until the verdict is rendered on the new Civic Type R— which we’ve really only been able to speculate about so far. But that’s for another time. For today’s slice of the Civic pie we finally have a bit more news on the sporty Si: The sedan body style is making a comeback for the new 11th gen Civic’s Si variant. Specific details around the Si—like what the powertrain will be, how much power it will make, and if there will be any new trick tech—are still pretty spartan. The last Civic Si relied on a buttery-smooth 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder which we had only one major complaint about: rev hang  during shifts. Hopefully Honda will resolve that with the new car. One thing we don’t mind carrying over, of course, is the six-speed manual that will once again serve as the Si’s only transmission choice. ...