New-car buyers will pay a premium to buy a car that can save them money on fuel, a leading car maker has warned.

As new legislation requires car makers to meet stringent economy targets, Mazda says it will be customers who end up footing the bill.

As the Japanese maker prepares to launch the first of its fuel miser models later this year, Mazda Australia boss Doug Dickson said:

“As fuel efficiency and CO2 requirements become more stringent there has to be more expensive technology. Everybody must meet those requirements, prices will move up. [Car makers] can’t absorb the extra costs, it’s not feasible.”

He said technology such as super efficient engines and transmissions and lightweight components cost more than the same parts in today’s average car.

But he also said buyers would be forced to pay a premium for these new features even though the car industry was adopting the changes any way.

“Yes we’ve got legislation that forces us in that direction but we all were moving that way any way.”

When asked if it would be a challenge for the industry to convince buyers they need to pay a premium for a car with a smaller engine, he said: “I think customers make those choices now and they will make a choice to go for a cheaper version or a more expensive version depending on what their tastes are.

“We faced the same [cost barriers] with safety etc, I don’t think it’s a new problem.

“Over time every [car maker] will have to move their technology to more efficient combustion. Those costs will eventually be passed on to consumers. Who’s going to pay? Government? Us? We can’t.”

Ford Australia is about to face a similar problem: it is likely the car maker will want to charge a premium for its new four-cylinder Falcon. It uses less fuel than the six-cylinder model but has less power.

Meanwhile, Mazda is yet to reveal which model will debut the first of its fuel miser technologies but it is understood it could appear in the Mazda2 or Mazda3 small cars before the end of this year.

“We will basically get a bit of a teaser this year [but] it’s by no means the full suite of technology,” he said. “This is the sort of technology we’ll be rolling out over the next decade.”