I Was Wrong: Mazda's Concept in Tokyo is Rotary After All

by Aaron Cole

Updated: December 30th, 2020 Published: October 27th, 2015

i was wrong mazda s concept in tokyo is rotary after all

“We’ve all but given up on rotary powered engines being fuel-efficient and commercially viable so calling this an RX concept would be a long throw.”

Speaking to Autocar on Tuesday, Mazda’s chief research and development officer Kiyoshi Fujiwara said that the company’s sportscar concept coming to the Tokyo Motor Show this week would in fact be a rotary-powered RX concept. (I can’t help but feel like he just called me out.)

The new engine, which has been dubbed Skyactiv-R (because of course it is), would come “some time in the future,” which would mean he’s coming for me soon.

Pack a lunch, Fujiwara. You and I will be dancing all day.

The two-seater sportscar could be arriving sooner rather than later according to the Mazda design chief.

“It is a two-door, two-seater. It is a pure sports car design. We have MX-5 and another icon is a rotary sports car. We haven’t talked about market reach but this would be in that segment.” Ikuo Maeda, who is Mazda’s head of design, told Autocar. He said the Tokyo concept “represents our dream, but we don’t want it to be a dream too long.”

Officials from Mazda were non-committed to an exact date for the return for the RX, but Autocar correctly pointed out that 2018 would be the 40th anniversary for the RX-7.

Last year, Maeda told Automotive News that the RX must have rotary power, and we’ve heard everything from hydrogen to hybrid (both!) to help along the notoriously thirsty and high-revving engine to make mileage requirements.

Mazda ended sales of the RX in 2012 in Europe due to tightening emissions regulations and slowing sales for sports cars. Rumors have pegged the new engine’s displacement at 1.6 liters, larger than the original rotary units, but it’s unclear how the powerplant would meet increasingly difficult emissions standards.

Your move, Fujiwara.

#Concept #Mazda #Rotary #RX #TokyoMotorShow

Aaron Cole

More by Aaron Cole

Comments

Join the conversation

2 of 33 comments

Silverbird on Oct 27, 2015

How about: Sporty electric car, batteries down low, with a low CG, but with a range extender using a fairly light Wankel powered generator. This may allow it to get a pass on poor fuel economy and emissions

Like Reply
Fordson on Oct 27, 2015

They have three car lines - the MX-5, the 3 and the 6, and three SUV lines - the CX-3, the CX-5 and the CX-9. The CX-9 uses a V6 they buy from Ford. The three cars and two smaller SUVs range in weight from 2300 lbs. to 3600 lbs., and to power them they have a grand total of two four-cylinder NA powerplants of very modest power output. They don't even have a viable engine for the 2 in this country. They have to use an economy car engine with a laughably low specific output for their sports car. And they figure they need to spend their meager powertrain budget bringing that rotary turd back to life - ? They're insane.

Like Reply

Recent Comments

Corey Lewis Facing rearwards and typing while in motion. I'll be sick in 4 minutes or less.
Ajla It's a tricky situation. If public charging is ubiquitous and reliable then range doesn't matter nearly as much. However they likely don't need to be as numerous as fuel pumps because of the home/work charging ability. But then there still might need to be "surge supply" of public chargers for things like holidays. Then there's the idea of chargers with towing accessibility. A lack of visible charging infrastructure might slow the adoption of EVs as well. Having an EV with a 600+ mile range would fix a lot of the above but that option doesn't seem to be economically feasible.
28-Cars-Later I'm getting a Knight Rider vibe... or is it more Knightboat?
28-Cars-Later "the person would likely be involved in taking the Corvette to the next level with full electrification."Chevrolet sold 37,224 C8s in 2023 starting at $65,895 in North America (no word on other regions) while Porsche sold 40,629 Taycans worldwide starting at $99,400. I imagine per unit Porsche/VAG profit at $100K+ but was far as R&D payback and other sunk costs I cannot say. I remember reading the new C8 platform was designed for hybrids (or something to that effect) so I expect Chevrolet to experiment with different model types but I don't expect Corvette to become the Taycan. If that is the expectation, I think it will ride off into the sunset because GM is that incompetent/impotent. Additional: In ten years outside of wrecks I expect a majority of C8s to still be running and economically roadworthy, I do not expect that of Taycans.
Tassos Jong-iL Not all martyrs see divinity, but at least you tried.