Tokyo Motor Show 2015: Mazda's RX Concept is Less And More

Aaron Cole
by Aaron Cole

Well, what we mean is less information is more frustrating. Or less exterior styling is more attractive. Or the less we know, the more we want to know. You get the gist.

Unveiled in Tokyo alongside its legendary 1967 Mazda Cosmo Sport, the RX-Vision “represents a vision of the future that Mazda hopes to one day make into reality,” according to the automaker.

Mazda was pretty mum on the details, including how it plans to update its next-generation rotary engine, dubbed Skyactiv-R, to comply with modern fuel economy standards. Will it be a range extender for hydrogen power? Will it be boosted? Will it blend? These are all important questions, people.

According to Mazda “mass production is currently on hold” for its rotary engine, which borders on Tinder levels of baiting. What about limited production? Will the next-generation engine follow the previous generation?

Powertrain questions aside, the two-door, two-seater sportscar (with Jag and other British car making touches) presents an interesting question for Mazda’s future: Where is this all going? As sales of crossovers reach higher and higher, few automakers have room in their portfolios for one slow-selling sportscar — let alone two.

“I look forward to talking with you more about this vision we have revealed here today at the Mazda stand,” Mazda’s President and CEO Masamichi Kogai said in Tokyo. “Mazda will continue to take on new challenges in an effort to build a special bond with our customers and become their ‘one and only’ brand.”

Make that two?






Aaron Cole
Aaron Cole

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  • Kato Kato on Oct 28, 2015

    I'm with redav, if the intended engine for this thing is a rotary, why does the hood need to be 8 feet long? Belt-line is too high, greenhouse is too small, and the whole thing is too cartoonish. The front end is nice though. Just build a new RX-7 and put a 300hp 2-rotor turbo rotary in it already. Weight target should be under 2800 lb, price should be no more than a 370Z, redline should be 10k.

  • Varezhka Varezhka on Oct 29, 2015

    It looks like a very nice concept with many homage to past RX-7s (particularly FD/'91~'02). Remove some of the concept car flourishes (like the nonexistent greenhouse), of course, and I will really look forward to 2017. Keep it naturally aspirated and under $40K, and I will buy two.

  • Jeff JMII--If I did not get my Maverick my next choice was a Santa Cruz. They are different but then they are both compact pickups the only real compact pickups on the market. I am glad to hear that the Santa Cruz will have knobs and buttons on it for 2025 it would be good if they offered a hybrid as well. When I looked at both trucks it was less about brand loyalty and more about price, size, and features. I have owned 2 gm made trucks in the past and liked both but gm does not make a true compact truck and neither does Ram, Toyota, or Nissan. The Maverick was the only Ford product that I wanted. If I wanted a larger truck I would have kept either my 99 S-10 extended cab with a 2.2 I-4 5 speed or my 08 Isuzu I-370 4 x 4 with the 3.7 I-5, tow package, heated leather seats, and other niceties and it road like a luxury vehicle. I believe the demand is there for other manufacturers to make compact pickups. The proposed hybrid Toyota Stout would be a great truck. Subaru has experience making small trucks and they could make a very competitive compact truck and Subaru has a great all wheel drive system. Chevy has a great compact pickup offered in South America called the Montana which gm could be made in North America and offered in the US and Canada. Ram has a great little compact truck offered in South America as well.
  • Groza George I don’t care about GM’s anything. They have not had anything of interest or of reasonable quality in a generation and now solely stay on business to provide UAW retirement while they slowly move production to Mexico.
  • Arthur Dailey We have a lease coming due in October and no intention of buying the vehicle when the lease is up.Trying to decide on a replacement vehicle our preferences are the Maverick, Subaru Forester and Mazda CX-5 or CX-30.Unfortunately both the Maverick and Subaru are thin on the ground. Would prefer a Maverick with the hybrid, but the wife has 2 'must haves' those being heated seats and blind spot monitoring. That requires a factory order on the Maverick bringing Canadian price in the mid $40k range, and a delivery time of TBD. For the Subaru it looks like we would have to go up 2 trim levels to get those and that also puts it into the mid $40k range.Therefore are contemplating take another 2 or 3 year lease. Hoping that vehicle supply and prices stabilize and purchasing a hybrid or electric when that lease expires. By then we will both be retired, so that vehicle could be a 'forever car'. And an increased 'carbon tax' just kicked in this week in most of Canada. Prices are currently $1.72 per litre. Which according to my rough calculations is approximately $5.00 per gallon in US currency.Any recommendations would be welcomed.
  • Eric Wait! They're moving? Mexico??!!
  • GrumpyOldMan All modern road vehicles have tachometers in RPM X 1000. I've often wondered if that is a nanny-state regulation to prevent drivers from confusing it with the speedometer. If so, the Ford retro gauges would appear to be illegal.
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