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Mazda to make all cars nearly free of harmful metals in 2006

Mazda plans to virtually eradicate four heavy metals deemed harmful to the environment from all of its domestic and foreign car models by the end of the year, according to Asia Pulse.

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) has set voluntary goals for eliminating the use of the four hazardous materials - lead, hexavalent chromium, cadmium and mercury- but Mazda's own targets beat the industry's by a few years.

Mazda also intends to eliminate the materials from existing models, while JAMA's goals only apply to new cars.

By the end of the year, Mazda plans to stop using cadmium, which is mainly incorporated to prevent electrical parts from wearing, by switching to alternative materials.

Tokyo Auto Salon 2005

	Ducks Garden Fairlady Not a pretty ornothologist, sadly, but a rehash of a 1967 Nissan drop-top. And Ducks Garden are the tuners who could find nothing better to do with an ageing MX-5.
	Honda Fit HB Honda's 'Incremental Mould' technology gives customers the chance to design their own bodywork. And this is Italian styling legend Zagato's crack at the Jazz. Fit? Try beer goggles.
	Elexceed RS Eco-commuting was once about Sinclair C5s. But this is Tokyo, and they're in a hurry. The £10k RS is a plug-in single-seater that'll do 44 miles between charges and hit 45mph.
	Esprit 350z Z33-R This is Nandrolone abuse, muscle-car style. Esprit has stuffed a 2.6-litre twin-turbo straight-six from the Skyline GTR into Nissan's 350Z. And tweaked out a full 702bhp.
	Mugen Legend Max Think Honda Legend, think slippers and pension books? Not Mugen. It's jammed in a detuned 600bhp four-litre V8 Le Mans engine, and it still revs to 10,000rpm.
	Proto Star Part Rolls-Royce, part coffee cake, all ill-disguised Honda Jazz. It's a design study from Shizuoka College of Technology. Thanks guys.
	Toy Box Alligator II Somewhere under this Thunderbirds freak show is a Micra. And chop shop Value Progress says just 10 orders will put the £22k six-wheeled eyesore into production. No.
	Mazda MX-5 Coupe Bit late in the day, but we like the Italian sports car inspiration behind the MX-5 Coupe. Have Mazda's design bods been taking notes?
	RX-7 If twin turbos don't quite fit the brief, sod it, try twin engines. Scoot has mated two of Mazda's manic rotary units to create its 470bhp RX-7 street racer.
	Puchiche It's hard to be taken seriously when your name is Yamashita. Harder still when you spend £16,000 of your hard-earned turning a Suzuki Cappuccino into a carbon-bodied 911-a-like.

What's in a Name?

Meet the next generation Miata. But don't call it a Miata. With a decidedly more masculine name, the new Mazda MX-5 handles and drives better than its predecessor.

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Mazda tests gas-hydrogen sports car

The Mazda H2RE will technically travel the claimed distance - on dual fuel tanks. While other carmakers are focusing on using hydrogen to power fuel cells which in turn power electric motors, the Renesis rotary engine on the H2RE has been tweaked to actually burn hydrogen. A switch in the cockpit allows the driver to toggle between gasoline and hydrogen consumption. While having gasoline backup can be considered cheating, 390 miles is a huge improvement over the 160 or so miles that have been seen with previous hydrogen powered cars. Now if I can get more than 200 freaking miles per tank out of my Evolution, we’re home free.

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Double Win For Mazda At Used Car Awards

Mazda has scored a double success at the Used Car of the Year Awards 2005, run by Used Car Buyer magazine, with Mazda MX-5 taking the Best Used Sports Convertible for the second consecutive year and Mazda6 taking the Best Family Car award adding to its huge list of accolades.

Published monthly, Used Car Buyer is the UK's only consumer magazine dedicated to the buying and selling of used cars.

The Mazda MX-5 has been voted Best Sports Convertible of the Year 2005 by Used Car Buyer magazine's panel of motoring journalists and industry experts. The MX-5 took the annual honours for the second year running beating close rivals BMW Z3 and Toyota MR2. It was marked highest for fitness for purpose, value for money, running costs, reliability, residual value and image.

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