Mazda Kills RX-9 And Relegates Rotary Power To Hybrids
Life is just not fair sometimes. Mazda’s stunning RX Vision concept had hinted – strongly – that a future rotary-powered RX coupé was in the pipeline, but sadly the idea has been canned for good.
In an interview with Automotive News, Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai squashed the idea of any sort of RX-sized coupé. A simple and possibly slightly impatient “no” greeted Automotive News’ reporter when he asked the question.
Although Kogai-san hasn’t ruled out the idea of rotary making a comeback, he does have bad news for sports car enthusiasts. He said: “I think that as a sports car option, the MX-5 1.5-liter or 2.0-liter conventional engine, with its power and acceleration, might be a more exhilarating experience.
We can point him to at least two online communities that might disagree, but hey. Rotary is in the R&D chain as we sit here right now, but is set to be limited to range-extender technology, where a small, high-revving rotor might be a perfect electricity-generating companion for batteries and electric motors.
“If we were to restart production of the rotary engine again, we need to make sure it wouldn’t be just short-lived,” Kogai said. “We need it to meet future emissions regulations. We are still conducting our r&d activity to overcome any issues we have with emissions and fuel efficiency.
Sad times indeed. But let’s remember that this cloud has a silver lining. At least the inevitable future LS swap argument won’t ever happen…
Comments
ThatWeirdGinger(AndhisRustX7)
It’s all a lie. I won’t believe what I read on the internet.
I think the RX7/8 is better left dead and remembered for what WAS rather than make if a new hybrid one with no soul
All right, take out your oven mitts cause here comes a hot take: The rotary engines are unreliable pieces of crap with laughable fuel economy and only makes sense if you have too much disposable income to throw into. Many of the merits of rotary engines are now present in cylinder engines, so even if they returned they would just be novelty items.
As sad as this makes me, as a huge rotary fan I can’t help but understand Mazda. Rotary engines are decades behind piston engines in development, even more if you count the fact there were only one or two companies developing them at any given time while hundrers of companies were developing piston engines.
As a result, it has horrendous emissions, needs to warm up properly before using, has less-than-ideal fuel consumption and doesn’t make the torque it could be making. Also, as much of a mechanical marvel as it is, it’s also a thermodynamic disaster, with half the casing being very hot and the other half having no heat introduced. So they require larger radiators, have worse fuel mileage and have a short useable power band unless turbocharged. This means every time Mazda manages to catch up to industry standards, the requirements are updated and they have to catch up again without putting their engine into production. Meaning: development investments without return. Using them to generate electricity means they can finally develop them properly without having to do it in the background, meaning they can afford to throw more money at them for the future.
Lets hope that there is a stock RX7
Ruined my day.
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