The Hiroshima-based automaker plans to introduce the CX-60 in Europe and Japan. It will be the lead-off model for a line of four crossovers built on a newly developed architecture for large vehicles that can accommodated inline 6-cylinder engines and rear-wheel drive setups.

Japan's top automaker believes technological breakthroughs, such as hydrogen engines, can give internal combustion a new lease on life — saving jobs as well as the environment.

Mazda launches several new crossovers this year, in an upmarket shift betting that going bigger is better.

The rollout makes good on a promise to resurrect the blade-twirling powerplant after retiring the technology with the discontinued RX-8 in 2012.

To crack the code of building low-cost electric vehicles, Japan's automakers intend to leverage their skills at tried-and-true lean manufacturing and kaizen.

The product surge comes as Mazda repositions its lineup toward the hot-selling utility vehicle segment and tries to move upmarket with bigger, more powerful offerings.

The production upgrades at the Hofu H2 assembly plant in western Japan will underpin upcoming production of new vehicles.

Japan's automakers are stoking R&D investment to meet mounting demand for a staggering array of technologies. Toyota by far outpaces the pack.

Last year, Mazda sped up its electrification plan, saying electric vehicles would account for a quarter of global sales in 2030, with the rest of the portfolio employing some other form of electrification. But executives are now saying that outlook needs an update.

A product blitz starting this year will transform Mazda's global lineup. It's going with larger and electrified vehicles that it bets will boost U.S. sales to record levels in just four years.

The executive who runs Mazda's newest assembly plant says there is lots to learn from Mazda's gargantuan Japanese partner, Toyota.

The Corolla Cross H2 Concept is just one of many advancements in hydrogen combustion that Toyota rolled out at Fuji Speedway. Toyota is about 40 percent of the way toward commercializing its hydrogen combustion technology, a top executive says.