Mazda celebrates two million rotary engines

Following the revival of rotary petrol engines – not driving the rear wheels but acting as a range-extending EV power generator in the 2023 MX-30 R-EV – Mazda has now officially produced more than two million examples of the iconic reciprocating engine invented by German engineer Felix Wankel in the 1950s.

The feat has taken 58 years to accomplish and takes in all possible applications of the rev-happy engine design, from compact sports cars, cult classics and JDM monsters through to the current range-extender set-up employed in the aforementioned plug-in hybrid compact SUV, which was never sold in Australia.

Mazda’s love affair with rotaries was kicked off in 1967 with the release of the Mazda Cosmo Sport coupe and took a Friends-style break in 2012 when production of the lauded RX-8 came to an end, although it continued to be made for the one-make, single-seater Star Mazda Championship race series until 2017.

Fast-forward six years to 2023 and the Mazda rotary is back, albeit in a different application and perhaps not to the enormous fanfare Mazda would’ve liked from RX sports car purists.

Still, that didn’t stop them dreaming of a new rotary-powered sports car and that dream is alive and kicking – if a bit in vain given executives have definitively ruled such a project out in favour of a rotary range-extender set-up as previewed by the Mazda Iconic SP concept at the Japan Mobility show this week.

“The rotary engine is a special part of Mazda history and… is much loved by customers around the world… we are excited to resume production and see it make a comeback,” Mazda director and senior managing executive officer Takeshi Mukai said.

“Moving forward, we will continue to pass on this ‘never-stop challenging spirit’, offering attractive vehicles that provide our customers with an exciting driving experience even in the age of electrification.”

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