New Rotary Rumors...with a twist.
 

Not just another rumor of a rotary revival but a rumor of two more rotary models coming!

Mazda planning RX-7, RX-9 sports cars? | New and Used Car Reviews, Research & Automotive-Industry News & LeftLaneNews

I wish!

Been seeing these rumors for the past half decade, if not longer. The fact remains that RX sales in the US have been more or less garbage since.... I guess the 2nd gens?

I'll begin to believe these rumors if I see one shred of evidence from mazda, but as of yet I haven't seen any

Oh look, yet another article from a magazine that comes up with ideals and speculation that is entirely based on the speculation and fake journalism of another magazine. And Motoring is yet again the basis of the information. Their articles have the integrity of a wet piece of paper.



This is an interesting comment.... I'd say that the RX-8 sales have been garbage for at least the last 3 years. :suspect:

Mazda have said no new rotary until they can sell 100k units per year. So no new rotary until they can put it more than 1 car.

I doubt even if they did it as a mx5 option, rx7 throughback entry level sports coupe, and rx9 premium sports coupe all at the same time they could net 100k a year. It would need to work in an econobox as well.

Report: Rotary a Must for Possible Mazda RX-8 Successor
 

Report: Rotary a Must for Possible Mazda RX-8 Successor

More of the same old news

Merged with existing thread, rumors about a future rotary is NOT "RX-8 news"


And the article is absurd. Of course a car with the designation "Rotary Experimental" would have a rotary in it... if it didn't, Mazda would name it something else. This has never been news. Just like Mazda's furniture ideas aren't named "cars", because they aren't ... you know ... cars.

"RX" isn't an arbitrary name, it specifically refers to the engine. :wallbash:

What's next? The new engine will get 50 mpg and shoot lasers out the exhaust?

I really wish they would make another rotary powered car, but unless they can design the rotary to be a little more friendly to the average day person ( think Toyota Camry engine), make it more fuel efficient, and environmentally friendly, the rotary , on mass produced scale, is doomed. Sad But True. Imo.

Too many rotorheads cry, dream, or masterbate for a high power magazine RX model, but that isn't viable.

Too many non-rotorheads bash, flame, and cry for it to go away completely, even though the fact that it exists is NEVER something that causes them personal problems.

And too many people that say it's impossible count out the power of human passion, ingenuity, and desire.

Those problem points you mention already HAVE solutions. Mazda just can't release a minor change to the engine every year or two, like piston engine manufacturers can, so people keep going on believing that the fundamental properties of a rotary are so immutable as to make a rotary never viable. For example, some of the solutions for those problems...
- Mazda's new cat technology has never been used on a rotary
- Mazda has a new sealing method that reduces emissions and improves gas mileage. They claim similar sealing as piston engines achieve with piston rings. This is probably in part due to an all aluminum block, which would better equalize the thermal expansion rates.
- The 13B engine dimensions have rotors that are too wide, the flame front never 'pushes' on the corners, meaning that energy, and thus fuel and torque, is wasted. The 16X dimensions solve that
- The 16X has a longer stroke to the eshaft, so it's low RPM torque would be better, which has a direct improvement in gas mileage.
- The RX-8 is heavy, a future RX would be lighter, helping gas mileage
- Aero drag reduction continues to improve, which will improve highway gas mileage for any rotary
- Skyactive tech with compression increases and exhaust tuning will reduce emissions and improve mileage
- The rotary will run on every other fuel currently in use, diesel, CNG, Hydrogen, E85, etc... If Mazda figures out a way to make it a true "use any fuel you want", that would be a HUGE selling point. Diesel alone would actually be a good thing, allowing for more low end torque that diesels enjoy, without the huge high rpm penalty that the massively heavy diesel engines have to restrict themselves to to keep the rotating mass in check. And diesel is an oil... which would do wonders for keeping the internal seals lubricated. And the mileage increases that diesel enjoy.
- No rotary has ever had "variable valve timing". It would come with an increase of moving parts, but entirely possible and would reap huge benefits in emissions and some in mileage
- Hybrid tech, such as the iEloop would have noticeable mileage benefits, even before you get into the possibilities of serious performance hybrids that would turn any RX into an extremely potent machine, like Porsche 911 GT3 R Hybrid 2.0 First Drive - Autoblog

...and this is just stuff that they have publicly announced or clearly have worked on/improved in other areas that can be adapted. I'd be shocked if they DIDN'T have even more improvements behind the scenes that they haven't made public.

It's "been doomed" by the public plenty of times before, but Mazda has always figured out a way to make it viable. They will again, and they are probably just waiting to finish the SkyActive overhaul of all existing models, of which they are doing 1 a year, which is incredibly impressive for such a small manufacturer, and they are raking in record profits even in the middle of doing so.

So be patient about the delay, realistic about what form it will likely take, and not overly condemning of what is, or is not "possible". :)

I guess we'll wait and see. :)