looking at some pics of the old SA22C (the first gen RX-7), it occured to me that Mazda mayn't have intended the model line to be "RX" but only "X"... just lookin' at the way the "R" is larger, stylized, and the "X-7" just seems to match as one thing, maybe Mazda's cars are all "X" series, and the "R"s signify the rotary engine??
in that sence then, they'd have a whole range of "X" model cars, some "M" (for Mazda or something, i dunno), and some "R", and some "?" whatever else...
just a silly thought... pay little attention :)

Rotary Experimental ;)

I never gave it much thought what that ment. Thanks for the info.

Toadman, is that a fact or something you just made up? It's late and I'm in that stage where I'd pert nere believe anything at this moment.

Strider-

That is the name they gave the project, and it ended up being the model name. ;)

There are two theories:

Rotary eXperimental - It's possible that this is what the RX originally stood for but interestingly, none of the cars that had the RX designation once they hit production had that designation while they were prototypes, and on the other hand there were a few cars that WERE designated RX in prototype stages but weren't called an RX anything when produced, at least not officially.

To wit:

The R100 was called the RX-85 in the prototype stage, and the R130 Luce was called the RX-87. Obviously neither hit the streets with these names OFFICIALLY, however, the R130 at Sevenstock had an RX-87 badge, not sure what that was about, perhaps it was an R130 that was sold overseas? Regardless, Mazda was pretty haphazard with many things back in the late 60s and early 70s.

On the other hand, the RX-2 was called the R612 as a prototype (since it was based on the 616, which had a 1.6L piston motor, but instead had a 12A which obviously was a rotary) but was called the Capella on introduction - but only in certain markets, which leads us to theory number 2...

Rotary eXport: Most of the RX cars weren't called an RX anything in Japan, at least not at first. The RX-2 was the Capella, the RX-3 was the Savanna, the RX-4 was the Luce. They were renamed when they hit US shores, and in most other nations as well.

The problem with this is that in some markets they kept their Japanese names. I'm pretty sure the RX-2 was called the Capella, at least for a while, in Australia.

Furthermore, we then have the reverse - the RX-5 Cosmo was the RX-5 in Japan and Australia but inexplicably it was called the Cosmo in the US, which had not gotten the original Cosmo and wouldn't recognize the name anyway.

Some additional notes:

The RX-3 was called the X-808 in prototype form.
The first RX-7 was called the X-605 in prototype form.
The FC RX-7 was called the P747, so that if anyone caught wind of the project they'd think it was one of the 7x7 series of Le Mans racers - but this only works if you didn't know that by this stage the "P" designation stood for "production" in Mazdaspeak.

No! RX= Rotary eXport. The rotary cars in Japan went by a different name...and when the RX7 came about, they liked the sound of "RX" so they kept it, even for Japan.

Michael
(That is in the RX7 Color History book)

...except that the RX-7 carried the Savanna name right up through the second generation cars. The RX-7 was viewed as the replacement for the Savanna RX-3 in Japan.

Toadman is correct: Rotary Experimental

This was hashed over almost 10 years ago on the big RX-7 email list.

Proof comes from the Yamaguchi book. The RX hails from 1967 with the first rotary concept cars, like the RX-85. The literature from those concepts clearly state "Rotary Experimental"

no it is rotary export.

we just had a discussion about this in the rx7 forums.

The only car in japan to carry the RX name was the RX-7, and soon the RX-8

The rest of the cars were names things like savana and cosmo.

The only car that could be classified as an experement, would be the late 60's cosmo sport. That proved the rotary could work ing the auto market.

The rest of the cars were exported all over the world.... thats harrdly an experiment.

SO the answer is ROTARY EXPORT.

whats the deal with changing the name when its exported to somewhere. why badge a car "atenza" in japan and "mazda6" everywhere else? or "mx-5" and "miata". why not call it the same thing everywhere and cut down on the cost of having to buy different badges?

It's worth noting that what we're arguing over here is what the RX originally stood for... by the late 70s it was simply a naming convention that Mazda wished to stick with, at least in some markets.

I would say the fairest answer is that it started out as Rotary eXperimental, for the RX-85 (R100) and RX-87 (R130) and then became Rotary eXport, for the RX-2 and later, and now it just means "car with a rotary engine."

Interestingly, none of the cars that wore an RX badge had RX in their prototype designation, and all the ones that were designated RX-something in prototype form were called something completely different in production - except for that pesky R130 at Sevenstock which wore an RX-87 badge - I still haven't figured that one out.

Geez, use your heads. The first mazda rotary, the RE-100, was named so because it had a (R)otary (E)ngine.
For their next generation of Rotary powered sports cars, they took away the E and replaced it with an X, every car company was doing it back then, it was, and still is, in vogue. Hence, in the mazda range, the 'X' signifies a sports car, and the 'R' represents that it is a rotary powered car. Duh!!

If the "x" was supposed to represent eXperimental, then why did the use it on the production models, and continue to use it right through the series of cars, From the RX-2 up to the RX-7 aand also the MX-5. (miata, whatever) I think that it's either eXport or simply a vogue thing, like WRX, no real meaning, perhaps sport. Or, as Mazda sometimes does, two words in 1 (like the RX-8, sports car in a 4 seat-4door format) firstly, Export, but you can't say export without saying sport! I dunno, it's late i'm tired and I'm looking way to far into little things.

I seem to remember from my original 79' RX-7 new car brochure that RX stands for Rotary (R) Powered (X).

for the rx-7 that would hold true, but the rx-2,3,4, and the cosmo were NOT sports cars.

Originally posted by RX-3_13B_Tommo
Geez, use your heads. The first mazda rotary, the RE-100, was named so because it had a (R)otary (E)ngine.
For their next generation of Rotary powered sports cars, they took away the E and replaced it with an X, every car company was doing it back then, it was, and still is, in vogue. Hence, in the mazda range, the 'X' signifies a sports car, and the 'R' represents that it is a rotary powered car. Duh!!