AbstractPermanent magnet motors have attracted a lot of attention recently for their potential for saving energy. However, they are only used for certain applications because the magnets are expensive. This paper discusses the optimum design of the low‐cost, highly efficient magnet‐ assisted reluctance motors with a minimum amount of magnets. The motor considered in this study is a multi‐flux barrier reluctance motor. The configuration by which permanent magnets are embedded to the innermost side of the rotor to obtain maximum output with the minimum amount of magnets was evaluated through simulation and experiments with a prototype motor. As a result, we established a method for designing motors capable of realizing the same efficiency as permanent magnet motors with only one‐fourth the amount of magnets. In our experiments, we achieved a high efficiency of 94.5% with a 750‐W motor. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 142(4): 66–74, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/eej.10123