Everyone’s favourite spinning triangle is coming back! Sorta. Mazda seems intent on bringing back the compact and powerful engine for possible use as a range extender for an EV or hybrid vehicle, Automotive News reports.
We’ve heard this might be a new application of the rotary for a while, but here’s some more concrete news. It won’t be powering a sports car for now, so hold off on your dreams of seeing a new Mazda Cosmo anytime soon. Mazda plans on having an electric vehicle sometime around 2019 with a pure electric model in the Asian and European markets while North America will get the rotary range extender.
All of this coincides with Mazda’s new hybrid and EV-ready vehicle architecture that should streamline development of new efficient models sometime in the near future.
Outside of the Miata, Mazda does not sell any sports cars and head of powertrains Mitsuo Hitomi told AN he does not think it makes business sense to have another performance car in the lineup. He does however confirm that Mazda has some ideas for a bigger rotary for a future vehicle but market trends will have to dictate the feasibility of a future sports car.
This may not bode well for that RX Vision Concept we saw earlier.
Are you excited for the new rotary, or do you just want them to bring back the RX-7 already?