It’s been more than a decade since the last Mazda with a rotary engine went out of production. Finally, the rotary engine is back, but not in the exciting form of its predecessor.
Used as a range extender for the Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV, the rotary returns far from the RX-8 sports coupe. But that doesn’t mean the Japanese automaker doesn’t want to apply rotary technology to sporty applications; it’s still a “dream” that may or may not come true.
“The rotary is our symbol,” said Yoshiaki Noguchi, assistant manager of Mazda’s powertrain development division. Car report. “Owning a sports car with a rotary is the dream of the engineers at Mazda. Now is not the time for that.”
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Why is that? Because Mazda’s current priority is to electrify its product range. Whether for emissions compliance or to keep up with global deadlines, Mazda is clearly focused on the electrification of its cars. The extended range in the MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV is part of that, and so is the future of Mazda vehicles. For the record, every Mazda vehicle will have some form of electrification by the end of the decade.
Frankly, Mazda has pushed the idea of a swivel-powered sports car backwards, but it could happen. It’s just a question of when.
For now, rotary engine enthusiasts will have to make do with the 830 cc petrol mill inside the MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV. It had a high compression ratio of 11.9:1, producing 75 horsepower (55 kilowatts) at 4,700 rpm and 116 Newton-meters (86 pound-feet) of torque at 4,000 rpm.
It does not power the wheels. Much like Nissan’s e-Power in Rogue and Kicks, it functions as a generator charging the battery on the move. This extends the range to more than 600 kilometers (373 miles). However, the main difference is that the MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV has the ability to mount, unlike Nissan.
