Every long-running automaker has its legends. When a car company lasts decades, it inevitably creates a product or two that carves a unique path through automotive history. A Mustang. A Corvette. Even the Mitsubishi Montero has a legion of fans.
Mazda has two legends. The MX-5 Miata will live forever – the ultimate handling-focused roadster at an accessible price, but the other legend has faded from some memories.
Mazda is beloved for rotary-engine sports cars.
It’s getting back in the game.
In 2023, the company showed off a lovely modern successor to the RX-7 and RX-8. The Iconic SP Concept had snake-head lines and pop-up headlights to excite the longtime loyalists. At the time, it was just a design study, but fans received it with such enthusiasm that the company promised to explore building it.
Now, a Mazda executive has confirmed that the rotary successor is coming. Design chief Masashi Nakayama told CarScoops, “This concept is not just one of those empty show cars. It has been designed with real intent to turn it into a production model in the not-so-distant future.”
He provided no details, but a Mazda press release about the original concept said it uses a “unique 2-rotor rotary EV system.” We took that to mean it’s a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) or, more likely, an extended-range electric vehicle (EREV).
A PHEV has a gasoline engine and an electric motor and can use either or both to power the wheels. It travels a set distance on electricity alone and then uses gasoline to go further. An EREV also has both, but the gasoline engine never powers the wheels. It serves solely as a generator to recharge the battery when you out-drive its charge.
Nakayama put no timeline on the project.
