LONDON (Bloomberg) - Mazda Motor Corp.’s struggle to save the internal combustion engine from extinction threatens to choke in a cloud of faulty emissions tests. It may not be the only casualty: The widening global emissions scandal perhaps says as much about badly designed standards as the failings of automakers.
Mazda has eschewed the industry’s rush to develop electric vehicles, seeking to prove the naysayers wrong by continuing to focus on conventional engines. The Japanese carmaker announced its intention last year to commercialize a next generation of internal combustion engines that would be 20 percent to 30 percent more fuel-efficient. Other companies had already lost hope of such a development. Investors cheered the plan.
On Thursday, however, the Japanese government said Mazda, Suzuki Motor Corp. and Yamaha Motor Co. conducted fuel-economy or emissions checks on cars that fell short of the country’s stringent testing standards. That brings the global count of automakers that haven’t been able to meet emissions requirements in their jurisdictions to at least seven, including Volkswagen AG, BMW AG and Nissan Motor Co.
No doubt, the extent to which the companies fell short or cheated on tests varies greatly, as do the mechanisms used. The volume of recalls as a result will differ; profits, along with reputations, will be dented.