The rotary engine lives! At least it does in this Mazda RX-Vision concept car.
Unveiled earlier today at the Tokyo motor show, this low-slung sports concept is powered by an all-new SKYACTIV-R rotary engine. Mazda isn’t revealing any details yet (around 225 kW is the general speculation) but Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai did say that Mazda has “never stopped research and development efforts towards the rotary engine,” and that “one day rotary will make a comeback. This gives form to our brand’s vision of the future. It expresses our intention to make rotary. There are many issues to overcome but we will continue our efforts. We’re working steadily. Keep your eyes on Mazda.”
It’s certainly difficult to take your eyes of this particular Mazda. The rear-wheel drive concept is a very stylish execution of Mazda’s KODO design language with an aggressive front end that features a prominent grille, a deep front lip spoiler that flow into big wheel arches with massive alloy wheels, and a rakish windscreen
With dimensions listed as 4 389 mm long, 1 925 mm wide, with a height of 1 160 mm and a wheelbase of 2 700 mm, the Mazda RX-Vision is marginally longer and wider than Jaguar’s F-type coupé. Thanks to the compact nature of the rotary engine though, it’s significantly lower. However it is not the F-Type that the Mazda is taking aim at… were they to build it. Instead its Porsche’s Cayman.
“If we were to mass produce the car, the Cayman is the right kind of assumption,” said R&D chief Kiyoshi Fujiwara. “We’d like to make the weight lighter, lighter than a Cayman.”
So will they indeed make it? Reading between the lines, we’re guessing they will. After all… 2017 would mark 50 years since Mazda launched its first rotary-powered sports car.
