Mazda ‘racing against time’ to build rotary-powered halo sportscar…

By: CAR magazine

Mazda’s chief of design has confirmed the Japanese firm is “racing against time” to build a rotary-powered halo sportscar.

Speaking to whichcar.com.au, Ikuo Maeda, head of global design at the company, said creating a rotary-powered flagship – something along the lines of 2015’s RX-Vision concept car – was “still our dream”.

When quizzed about the project’s timeframe, Maeda wasn’t able to provide a concrete answer.

“It’s a difficult question but we never give up on that dream. It’s [been] too long, huh?

“I understand the clock is ticking and the environment can change. We have to see if the future environment will accept a sportscar with open arms. So we understand we are racing against time,” he explained.

Maeda said there were “still many fans of sportscars” and that turning “the determination of these sportscar fans” into “power to push for the new sportscar” was the key.

Interestingly, the design chief said while Mazda had no plans to enter into an agreement with another automaker (as Toyota did with BMW to create the new Supra), he conceded “we probably need to explore various different ways to actually realise it, because what’s important is actually offering the sportscar to market”.

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