When it comes to Mazda's black technology, the first thing that probably comes to most people's minds is the rotary engine. Indeed, as a rotary engine with fatal flaws to a certain extent, it has long been abandoned by various car companies, and Mazda, which was in prison at the time, was like grasping a life-saving straw and working frantically on the rotary engine.
The hard work paid off, and with the unremitting efforts of Mazda's "Rotor 47 Heroes", Mazda really let it do it. As a result, Mazda began to kill all sides with its rotors, and the classic RX-7 became one of Japan's four king sports cars, and it also gave birth to master modification brands and models like RE Amemiya. Moreover, the rotary engine not only made a name for itself in the civilian car market, but also helped Mazda win the championship at Le Mans, and also made the Mazda 787B a classic model.
However, with the increasingly stringent emission regulations and the fatal flaws of the rotor engine, Mazda had to abandon this very special engine and start developing the engine of the Skyactiv series instead. As a result, with the discontinuation of the RX-7 and RX-8 one after another, the rotary engine disappeared into the torrent of history.
In fact, after that, Mazda has always wanted to resurrect the rotor engine, so there has always been a joke that Mazda studied the rotor when it made money. However, as Mazda's performance in the market began to struggle, plans for the revival of the rotors were repeatedly put on hold. With the outbreak of the new energy market, Mazda, which insists on internal combustion engines, has gradually lost its market competitiveness. However, rumors of a revival of the rotor engine have not stopped.
However, just recently, Mazda officially announced that a rotary engine team composed of 36 engineers was officially established to develop rotary engines. However, the rotary engine used in Mazda's Iconic SP concept car does not directly participate in power output, but exists as a range extender. The car is equipped with a twin-rotor engine that can run on hydrogen and other renewable fuels in addition to conventional fuel.
However, if Mazda firmly goes in the direction of the rotor, there may also be a high probability that it will be applied to some other models, and even a direct drive version will appear. In other words, in the future, we can even expect Mazda to bring a successor to the RX-7 or RX-8.
At present, Mazda's concept car Iconic SP is based on the next-generation Mazda MX-5, and the future production model is likely to be officially launched around 2026. With a current length of less than 4.2 meters, the size of this car will not be particularly large in the future. I believe that many Mazda fans, will they have something to look forward to? After all, the Mazda RX-7 is currently the only sports car that has not been resurrected. So, would you expect the rotor to come back to life?