News
Gallery 1
The rotary is back! The Mazda RX-Vision concept unveiled at the Tokyo motor show previews a return of an engine design synonymous with the Japanese brand.
Mazda says its two-door coupe concept – expected but unconfirmed to go into production – delivers the classic proportions of a front engine, rear-wheel drive model.
It sits low and wide, with a long nose like a Jaguar F-Type and a similar cab-rearward design. The interior is minimalist almost to the point of retro.
The brand says the styling of the RX-Vision “is modern but maintains a sense of lineage and authenticity, encapsulating Mazda’s entire history of sports car design.”
Width of 1.925m is beyond either (each 1.3-litre-engined predecessor measured about 1.75m), although the concept uses the same 2.7m wheelbase as the RX-8.
The “incredibly low bonnet” owes to a new rotary engine dubbed Skyactiv-R, in a similar naming strategy to Mazda petrol/gasoline (Skyactiv-G) and diesel (Skyactiv-D) engines.
“Mazda will never stop challenging to deliver new rotary engines that provide its unique brand of driving pleasure,” the company says in a statement.
“Skyactiv technology [will help] towards achieving a breakthrough in addressing three key issues with rotary engines – fuel economy, emissions performance and reliability.”
In two years Mazda will celebrate 50 years since it introduced the Cosmo Sport using the brand’s first rotary engine.
It will be a celebration that that will likely include a production version of this RX-Vision concept set to revive the RX-7 nameplate or continue onwards to RX-9.
