There’s been plenty said about Mazda and the return of the rotary engine ever since the RX-Vision concept and the SkyActiv-R engine was revealed back in 2015. However, it looks like the rotary engine will first be used as a range extender in an electric vehicle, AutoRAI reports.
This is according to Martijn ten Brink, Mazda Motor Europe’s vice president of sales and customer service, who said, “with our Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030 strategy, we have outlined a complete plan for our future. An electric car is part of that plan, mainly because some markets require us to do so.”
“As far as we’re concerned, the internal combustion engine is far from written off. Even in 15 to 25 years, it will still be present in cars, simply because hybrids and plug-in hybrids require an internal combustion engine, too,” he continued.
The Mazda executive also provided a few details about the company’s new EV, which will be built on a new modular small car platform and will be about the size of a Mazda 3. It will use a single-rotor engine mounted horizontally instead of vertically, as a range extender.
As for the likelihood of a rotary engine driving a future sports car, ten Brink didn’t confirm if such a thing will exist. The world has been waiting for a successor to the RX-8 for a while now, with the RX-Vision and last year’s Vision Coupe being beacons of hope for such a thing to occur. We’ll have to wait and see what Mazda has in store for the rotary engine, and if it will go beyond just being a range extender.
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That’s clever move. Making it runs at 1200rpm while charging the battery means it will be small and light, super smooth while being efficient.
It would be even more impressive if they manage to stuff their HCCI system into their rotary engine. I think that would help with alot of the rotary’s disadvantages.