Much has been speculated about the next Mazda sports car. Fortunately, Mazda has just confirmed the essentials: it will use a Wankel engine named SkyActiv-R.
A few weeks ago, Razão Automobile joined the chorus of publications that tried to guess the guidelines of the next Mazda sports car. We didn't fail by much, or at least, we didn't fail in the essentials.Speaking to Autocar, Mazda R&D Director Kiyoshi Fugiwara said what we all wanted to hear: that Wankel engines will return to Mazda. “Most people think that Wankel engines cannot meet environmental standards”, “this engine is essential for us, it is part of our DNA and we want to pass on our knowledge to future generations. Sometime in the future we will use it again in a sports model and we will call it the SkyActiv-R ”, he said.
Not to be missed: A Mazda 787B screaming at Le Mans, please.
The most likely candidate for the new SkyActiv-R engine is the concept that Mazda will unveil later this month at the Tokyo Motor Show “a two-door, two-seater coupe. We already have the MX-5 and now we want another sports car but with a Wankel engine”, said Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai. Launching a sports car with a Wankel engine “is our dream, and we don't want to wait much longer for it”, said the head of the Japanese brand.
As for the release, Masamichi Kogai didn't want to push dates, “I don't want to put even more pressure on our engineers (laughs)”. We believe that the most likely date for the launch of this new sports car is 2018, the year in which Wankel engines celebrate 40 years in Mazda models.