Mazda Donates Tribute Hybrids to Fire Authorities in Southern California.

[Valleyforge]

Mazda Donates Tribute Hybrids to Orange County Fire Authority in California

HIROSHIMA, Japan
February 24, 2006



Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) donated 10 clean-burning, fuel efficient Tribute Hybrid Electric Vehicles to the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) at a ceremony held on February 22, 2006, at the OCFA headquarters in Irvine, California.

The vehicles are gasoline-electric hybrid versions of the Mazda Tribute compact SUV and are the first of 30 total Tribute Hybrid SUVs that Mazda will loan to fire agencies across Southern California. The Tribute HEVs are painted in the red and white color used by regional fire authority vehicles and will be in service for two years. They will mainly be used for educational programs and fire safety and prevention programs at local schools.

"It's a great honor to give something back to the community with these Tribute Hybrids," said Jim O'Sullivan, MNAO's president and CEO. "The on-road data that we'll receive over the course of the two year loan of these vehicles will be invaluable to Mazda as we continue the production development of future hybrid vehicles."

The Mazda Tribute HEV has a fuel consumption rate 74 percent better than the base model Tribute and also meets the strict Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEV) and Advanced Technology Partial Emissions Vehicle (AT-PZEV) standards in California - the strictest emission regulations a gasoline-fueled vehicle can meet in the United States. The combination of the Tribute HEV's MZR2.3 engine and hybrid system together realize smooth, powerful acceleration comparable to a V6 3.0L engine. With a Tribute HEV, drivers can have superior environmental performance and Zoom-Zoom driving at the same time.

Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) is responsible for the sales and marketing, customer parts and service support of Mazda vehicles in the United States. Headquartered in Irvine, California, MNAO has more than 700 dealerships nationwide.

[tbaleno]

You might want to mention that this vehicle is not available to the public and when it is due to be available.

[xcel]

Hi Tom:

___I haven’t pulled my Chicago Autoshow notes out just yet but to add a bit of commentary …

___Tom, Eric, and myself quite literally stumbled upon the Mazda Tribute Hybrid and I mean stumbled. We were walking towards the Mazda area not really interested in speaking with anyone given the lack of hybrid automobiles and Eric says, hey, is that the Mazda Tribute Hybrid? As we came closer, it sure was! We spoke with the Mazda reps at length for ~ 30 minutes about the Tribute Hybrid and learned of Mazda’s giving away of at least 30 Tribute HEV’s to some of Southern California’s finest. Sorry about the poor pic. My camera was dead and Eric’s wasn’t quite setup properly IIRC on Day 1?

___Mazda’s USA HQ’ers in Irvine California was close enough to one of the larger Southern California brush fires that they could actually see the smoke and flames from their corporate offices! From our discussion, those firefighters and their equipment literally saved their site. Because of the shortage of Hybrid components (another story all on its own), Ford offered Mazda just 30 - 50 hybrid drive trains/Tribute HEV’s. Mazda would not even think about trying to sell just 30 - 50 into their NA dealership network so they decided to give them away to some of the local Fire Protection districts as test beds and to give something back to those under funded and overworked areas. There are more cites, towns, and fire protection districts to receive the Tributes then the article has revealed but the article explains enough. We were asked not to post this information until it was publicly released which was supposed to be Feb. 15? I have been checking MazdaUSA’s website on and off for the past two weeks. Once I saw the news posted over at GCC earlier today and checked the Mazda site, I knew we had the go ahead.

___Good Luck

___Wayne