The return of an RX-badged sports car, previewed at the Tokyo Motor Show by the RX-Vision concept, could also mark the comeback of the Wankel engine.
Using forced induction once again for the rotary engine, after a small break with the naturally aspirated (and lacking in torque) RX-8, has been on the cards for quite some time.
This, however, is the first time a Mazda official goes on the record in favor of turbocharging the all-new unit.
“Personally, I think that a rotary with some turbo or compressor would be good”, drivetrain and powertrain assistant manager Tetsushi Marutani told Motoring. “In my opinion, they require more [torque at] low speed, low down torque. So if we have some small compressor or turbo it would help. I used to have a second-generation RX-7, and it was very quick.”
Though he did confirm the project’s existence, Marutani was coy about everything else.
“We are still developing the new engines with rotary. So in the future we hope to release it, of course, yes. But it’s still under development. We can’t say anything about the [rotary] program; when, what type of vehicle, what is the horsepower, we can’t say anything about it yet.”
If the rest of the info that goes around turns out to be any good, then it’ll probably turn out to be a twin-rotor, 1.6-lt engine with an output in excess of 400 hp. Hard to believe it’s been more than eight years since we first heard of the 16X…
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