Mazda Is Building A New Rotary-Engined Sports Car Concept

Despite the fact that Mazda killed off its production rotary engines with the RX-8, it’s long been rumoured that a select group of engineers have continued working with rotarys with a view to bringing them up to scratch for modern emissions regulations. Now we know that their hard work has paid off, as Mazda is bringing a rotary-powered sports car concept to this week’s Tokyo motor show.

Kiyoshi Fujiwara, head of research and development at Mazda, told Autocar "People think rotary can not meet modern Eco demands. The SkyActiv engineers worked on rotary and have it cutting edge tech. It is an essential part of our DNA and it [has been] passed onto future engineers. It is synonymous with the brand. Some time in the future it will return and be called SkyActiv-R"

The exciting part of that quote is that it "will" return; that’s not a maybe, that’s a definitive answer. Mazda is bringing a sports car concept to the Tokyo motor show, and so far all we’ve seen is a shadowy teaser that looks a hell of a lot like a modernised RX-7. It wouldn’t be a push to guess that a rotary-powered sports car could make production sooner rather than later.

It’d be no surprise to see Mazda jumping back on the sports car bandwagon, as Japan finds its mojo once more. At the turn of the 21st Century, pretty much every manufacturer in the country was producing something to get enthusiasts hot under the collar, but a switch in focus towards mass production ‘white goods’ vehicles has seen JDM fans hankering for the past.

With the likes of Honda bringing back the NSX and building a brilliant Civic Type R, Toyota building the tuner-friendly GT86 and working with BMW on a potential Supra replacement, and Mazda itself seeing great success with the new MX-5, performance cars are back on the agenda in the Land of the Rising Sun. A new rotary successor to the RX-8 would be the icing on the cake.