A few weeks ago, I wrote about Mazda’s new RX-7, scheduled for release in 2011. Well, that now looks unlikely. In fact, Mazda have put the release date as unknown, ushering the wankel warrior into the dreaded category known as development hell. Autocar reports that the development of Mazda’s new RX-7 is plagued with problems. The RX-8 had problems with fuel economy and high oil consumption and the Mazda engineers are no closer to solving them with the new RX-7. They could solve the problem by adding direct injection, but that’ll drive them into another problem. The DI components would make the RX-7′s engine weigh more than the current 13B motor, an outcome that would be in direct conflict with Mazda’s vision of cutting 100kg from all its cars in the next five years. Other problems, include lack of mid-range torque and trying to get the current engine to reach their target for maximum revs. Couple these problems with Mazda’s sales dropping 19% and the prognosis doesn’t look good.
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