You don’t get in shape overnight. A legend doesn’t come out of retirement without a lot of preparation. And Mazda doesn’t get back into the rotary engine sports car game lightly. But, with hard work and dedication, you can hit that old mile time. Another championship run is not out of reach.
And the RX-7 can get the 21st-century successor it has always deserved.
Mazda started with a concept car. Released last fall, the Iconic SP Concept teased longtime fans with RX-7-like lines and Wankel-engine hints.
It was an exercise in buzz — nothing intended for production. Just a nod to nostalgia for Mazda’s long history with rotary-engine sports cars. But Mazda seems to have gotten the buzz it wanted, Australia’s Drive says.
Buzz Triggered a ‘Launch‘
Mazda CEO Katsuhiro Moro told an audience at the Tokyo Motor Salon, “I am very happy and deeply moved by all the support and encouragement I have received for the compact sports car concept,” Drive reports. “With your encouragement, we are launching a rotary engine development group on Feb. 1 to move closer to this dream.”
Mazda won’t need to “launch” from scratch. The Iconic SP Concept already gets them part of the way to where they need to be.
It looked like what you’d get if you combined the curvy last-generation RX-7 with the taut lines and pronounced hood ribs of the current MX-5 Miata. And Mazda press releases said it used a “unique 2-rotor rotary EV system,” which we took to mean it was an extended-range electric vehicle (EV).
The Rotary Engine Is Likely A Generator
Mazda has publicly toyed with extended-range EVs in the past. They sound like plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) with electric motors and a gasoline engine onboard. But they’re mechanically different because the gasoline engine has no connection to the wheels.
Instead, it acts purely as a generator to recharge the batteries. This gives them the instant torque of EVs but the limitless range of gas-powered cars. There are none on the market today, but the upcoming 2025 Ram Ramcharger will bring the concept to the pickup truck market.
Rotary engines are known for their outsize power-to-weight ratios. That could make them ideal generators for an extended-range EV. A small, lightweight rotary engine could provide the power to keep the batteries charged without compromising the light weight that made classic Mazda sports cars so much fun in a corner.
We’re hopeful, though Moro put no timeline on the project.
