Production Mazda Iconic SP Closer To Reality, Will Be ‘Successor For RX-7’

It’s been nearly two years since the Mazda Iconic SP concept was revealed, and not a day’s gone by where we haven’t been feverishly dreaming about a production version of the gorgeous sports car. Thankfully, it seems increasingly clear that that could be happening, according to Mazda’s chief technical officer Ryuichi Umeshita in an interview with MotorTrend.

Better yet, should it hit production, the Iconic SP will be a second sports car in Mazda’s lineup, with development of a fifth-generation MX-5 underway. It’ll sit above the evergreen roadster in Mazda’s range, with Umeshita saying: “You can expect Iconic SP will be a good successor for RX-7.”

That’s the clearest indication yet that the car is being readied as a continuation of Mazda’s lineage of rotary-powered sports cars, which died off with the RX-8 in 2012. Unlike its ancestors, though, the Iconic SP initially won’t use a rotary engine to power the wheels directly – instead, like the concept, it’ll serve as a range extender for the electric motors that’ll power the car. However, Umeshita says that a second version that does use the rotary as the main source of propulsion has been conceptualised.

Mazda’s already revived the rotary in a similar arrangement in the MX-30 EV, but the Iconic SP should be a lot more serious. It’s set to use the new generation rotary engine Mazda announced last year and, if the production car is anything like the concept, could be part of a system that develops a total of around 365bhp.

There is one final hurdle to overcome, though: making a solid business case for the Iconic SP. Although it’s expected to be a low-volume model, there’s still a chance that boring old economics could get in the way of production, according to MotorTrend. Here’s hoping that won’t be the case.