Mazda has been tight-lipped about its plans for the New York Auto Show, but it appears the company dropped a pretty big hint on their teaser page.
As noticed by Jalopnik, the page shows a darkened image of a vehicle with a SKYACTIV badge. However, if you grab the image from the source code and enhance it, it appears to say “SKYACTIV D.”
While Mazda has offered diesel engines overseas, one has never made it stateside despite years of broken promises. A Mazda6 diesel was supposed to arrive in 2013, but never did. More recently, in November of 2016, Mazda claimed the then new CX-5 would be available with a diesel engine in the second half of 2017.
At the time, the model was slated to use a 2.2-liter SKYACTIV D engine which promised to deliver a “torque-rich driving experience.” Mazda also said the engine would make the CX-5 “one of the most fuel-efficient vehicles in its class.”
Of course, 2017 came and went with no signs of the overdue diesel. The last we heard of it was in August of 2018 when the EPA posted some disappointing fuel economy numbers for a diesel-powered CX-5. While the vehicle was never actually launched, the EPA said the 2018 CX-5 with a 2.2-liter four-cylinder diesel engine would return up to 28 mpg city, 31 mpg highway and 29 mpg combined. This was only a gain of 3 mpg city and 1 mpg combined over the petrol-powered model.
To make matters worse, the diesel-powered CX-5 was significantly less fuel-efficient than the Chevrolet Equinox. When equipped with the optional 1.6-liter turbodiesel four-cylinder engine, Chevy’s front-wheel drive crossover returns 28 mpg city, 39 mpg highway and 32 mpg combined.
Of course, it remains unclear if those fuel economy numbers are accurate as the EPA doesn’t list either a 2019 or 2020 CX-5 with a diesel engine. However, the listing for the 2018 Mazda CX-5 diesel is still live.
We’ll find out more soon enough as Mazda’s press conference kicks off tomorrow at 12:30 PM EST.
