The Mazda 2 Hybrid 2022 is a relabelled Toyota Yaris. The 116 hp hybrid small car has a continuously variable automatic transmission, but no price yet.
The Mazda 2 Hybrid will be launched in 2022, but will not replace the current model that has been on the market since 2014. The predecessor was recently refreshed and equipped with mild-hybrid technology. But that will not be enough in the long term: Even stricter emission limits are likely to make more electrification indispensable. Hybrid pioneer Toyota is just in time, as Suzuki has already established.
With the Swatch and the Across, the car manufacturer has recently started offering tried and tested Toyota hybrid models under its logo. Mazda’s newest small car also comes as a renamed Toyota, only the brand emblems and model logos are exchanged. Otherwise, the two Japanese small cars are visually and technically identical. Mazda is established, but the comparatively small manufacturer, which should have developed a completely new and hybrid-compatible platform for the Mazda 2 Hybrid (2022). Costs that can be saved with so-called “badge engineering”.
The Mazda 2 Hybrid (2022) will be equipped with the full hybrid drive of the Yaris. Means: A 1.5-liter three-cylinder with 98 HP provides propulsion in conjunction with a 79 HP electric motor, the system output is 116 HP. There is a lithium-ion battery under the back seat, which, although only a small electric range, delivers enough power to take the load off the gasoline engine.
Charging takes place through recuperation and excess energy from the burner. According to WLTP measurements, the drive in the Toyota only consumes around four liters per 100 kilometers. Similar values are to be expected for the structurally identical Mazda. Since the Mazda 2 Hybrid is only intended for Europe for the time being, the Yaris twin will also roll off the production line in Valenciennes in northern France.
The 1.0 and 1.5 combustion engines are reserved for the Yaris. The fact that Toyota and Mazda like to trust each other when it comes to small cars has been shown in the USA: There – here the other way around – the current Mazda 2 was also recently named Toyota Yaris – but both are no longer in stores there. The price of the Mazda 2 Hybrid (2022) based on Yaris remains open. The Yaris Hybrid has a price of at least 20,390 euros (as of December 2021).
