It may be time for rotary fans to start getting their hopes up a little for a return of the spinning triangle engine.
Automotive News spoke with Mitsuo Hitomi
, the man in charge of
powertrains, who said there’s a very good chance the next implementation of the rotary engine will be as an
range extender. The news source also suggests that such a vehicle could be just around the corner, since Akira Kyomen, Mazda’s vehicle development program manager, confirmed to
Automotive News
that the company will have a
out in 2019 in both pure electric and range-extended versions. We’ve reached out to Mazda for further comment, but haven’t received a reply at the time of publishing.
Looking back, we have reason to believe that this really might happen. As far back as 2013, Mazda was working on a rotary-engine range-extended electric car in
the form of the Mazda2 RE Range Extender
. It had a total range of 250 miles, half of which came from its battery, the other half from a 330 cc rotary engine generator fueled by a 2.6-gallon gas tank. More recently, Mazda has also teased rotary power with the RX-Vision concept at the
and
another rumored rotary concept at this year’s show
, which could be
the design concept teased recently
.
But most convincing is the
. The powertrain layout looks just like the one used in that
concept. There’s also the fact that, as
, and as
Hitomi mentioned to Automotive News
, the rotary could be a good range-extender due to its compact size and smoothness. Of course it also isn’t known for being the most efficient engine, but if it isn’t required to provide all the forward propulsion, it could be made small enough that it’s frugal, and the added space and weight savings would be important for making the vehicle more practical, adding more batteries, or simply keeping the car lighter.
This news might not excite rotary die-hards who have been waiting for an RX-7 and
successor, but they shouldn’t quite abandon hope yet.
Hitomi also told Automotive News
that there’s still development of a bigger rotary engine with the possibility of being used in a
, but apparently the problem is coming up with a business case. If there are any Mazda executives reading, may
we suggest a rotary hybrid sports car
? You’d get the torque and efficiency of electric motors, combined with the high-rpm power of a rotary. It could be a great halo for marketing other rotary hybrids and rotary range-extended
, too. Think about it, Mazda.
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