HIROSHIMA, Japan, Oct. 27 (UPI) — Car manufacturer Mazda confirmed Wednesday that its rotary engine will return as the SkyActiv-R and be a part of a new sports car concept.
Its last sports car to use the engine, the RX-8, was killed off in 2012 due to its inability to meet tightening emissions regulations.
The engine and accompanying concept vehicle will be presented at this week’s Tokyo motor show.
Mazda’s head of research and development Kiyoshi Fujiwara told Autocar that the engine’s design will trump people’s disbelief in the ability of such a motor to meet modern ecological demands.
Road and Track said various rumors regarding the company’s plan to return the rotary engine, which was first featured in the 1967 Mazda Cosmo sports coupe, were buzzing prior to the Tokyo Auto Show.
“The SkyActiv engineers worked on rotary and have it cutting edge tech,” Fujiwara said. “It is an essential part of our DNA.”
As for the concept car, Mazda President and CEO Masamichi Kogai said it is a two-door, two-seater with a “pure sports car design.”
Mazda did not provide a specific date for the launch date of the engine. Kogai justified this by telling AutoCar that “rotary engines have lots of issues” including “emissions,” “performance” and “making it easy to maintain.” He said releasing additional details would put undue pressure on the engineers.
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