A motor is basically provided with a stator, a rotor, a low permeability layer and a current control device. The stator includes a magnetic stator core and a stator winding. The rotor includes a rotor core and a plurality of permanent magnets arranged to form N and S poles of the rotor. The low permeability layer has a lower magnetic permeability than the rotor core and extends between each of the N and S poles in a direction generally parallel to the magnetic flux paths of the permanent magnets such that the permanent magnets and the low permeability are arranged to obstruct the magnetic flux between the N and S poles to provide a forward salient pole characteristic. The current control device produces a current whose phase is shifted such that the magnetic flux of the permanent magnets intensifies.