Mazda reveals teaser pic of sporty coupe concept ahead of Tokyo show, it will receive SkyActiv-R rotary power and may have RX-9 badging

Mazda has confirmed its sports car concept at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show features a new rotary engine called SkyActiv-R and will be a two-door two seater. At a dinner prior to the show, head of research and development Kiyoshi Fujiwara told Auto Express: “We want to return the rotary engine to the market some day soon. It’s our heart and soul.

“In 2017 it is the 50th anniversary of the Cosmo Sports (Mazda’s first production car with a rotary engine). Therefore we want to announce something in 2017 – and not a concept car.”

And the concept is said to hint strongly at what might be expected from a production car. Fujiwara explained that: “The concept car is not completely [the look of the production car], but some visions of it is in it.”

Although no technical data is available for the engine that will appear in the concept yet, it is understood it will be a pure rotary, with no electric assistance, as has been speculated. But Fujiwara says advances in technology will allow for superior efficiency – always a big criticism of rotary power.

He continued: “We realise the fundamental structural problem of the rotary, but recently new materials have been developed and also some measuring, sensing, technology has been updated. We can analyse the combustion in the engine by computer. That can help.”

“Hybrid is one future possibility for rotary engines but at first we have to show the rotary engine itself to the fans. Two years ago we showed a kind of usage of the rotary as a range extender, but many of the fans complained.

“They said firstly you have to develop a car itself with a rotary engine. [After that], then I can expand some of the business for rotary engines – that is the request from the fans.”
Tokyo concept is a 2-door, 2-seater

And president and CEO Masamichi Kogai added: “It is a two-door, two-seater, a pure sports car design. It encapsulates the front-engine rear wheel drive design of the sports car. It embodies our Japanese aesthetics.”

Kogai added that a new rotary engined car would have to meet strict emissions targets for carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide, but was unwilling to speculate on launch dates. “Saying anything puts too much pressure on our engineers and I want to avoid that.”

And he also said no decision has been made as to where a rotary coupe would fit into the company’s product range. “We haven’t really talked about where the vehicle sits, whether it is going to be more upmarket than the RX-8 or below it.”

We'll find out more details, and see the concept in all its glory, at the 2015 Tokyo show.