Mazda RX-9 at last? Vision X-Coupe keeps rotary fire burning

Mazda has reignited hopes for a reborn rotary sports car with the dramatic unveiling of the Mazda Vision X-Coupe at the 2025 Tokyo motor show – a plug-in hybrid coupe concept packing a turbocharged twin-rotor engine producing 380kW.

Speculation about a reborn Mazda rotary sports car – call it the Mazda RX-9 – went into overdrive as the Mazda Vision X-Coupe broke cover under Tokyo’s bright lights.

The show-stopping concept is powered by a turbocharged twin-rotor engine producing 380kW, supported by a single electric motor that enables both high performance and low emissions.

Mazda’s rotary journey began 62 years ago, when it unveiled the Cosmo prototype at the 1963 Tokyo motor show. Fast-forward to 2025 and the Vision X-Coupe reimagines that legacy with a sleek, minimalist design inside and out, along with four-door practicality.

Rotary engines – or Wankels – are famed for their high-revving character but notorious for thirst and emissions. By integrating an electric motor and battery delivering a 160km electric-only range, Mazda believes the Vision X-Coupe would not only meet modern emissions standards but would be future proofed as well.

Which raises the question: is this another Mazda flight of fancy, or the prelude to a production-bound rotary sports car?

Mazda’s rotary heritage runs deep, from the RX-2 through to the legendary RX-7 and the final RX-8 of 2012.

Fans have long begged for a successor – and Mazda President and CEO, Masahiro Moro, has at least given them hope.

During his keynote address at the Tokyo motor show, Moro-san declared: “It is with great excitement that I introduce the Mazda Vision X-Coupe.”

That’s the good news. The bad news? It’s at least a decade away.

“Mazda brings this idea into the future, to 2035 and beyond,” said Mazda’s global boss.

The “2035 and beyond” pitch might sound distant, but at least it keeps the rotary dream alive.

Mazda has teased us before – with the jaw-dropping RX Vision concept in 2015 and the elegant Vision Coupe from 2017 – both crowd-pleasers… that never reached production.

Realistically, the Vision X-Coupe may never see a showroom.

But it does preview Mazda’s evolving Kodo design language and next-gen sustainability tech.

“By pairing Mazda Mobile Carbon Capture with carbon-neutral fuel, the Mazda Vision X-Coupe can reduce atmospheric CO2 the more it is driven,” explained Moro-san.

The details of that carbon-capture system remain vague, but Mazda will demonstrate it publicly in December 2025 by entering a super endurance race with the Mazda 55, equipped with the same Mobile Carbon Capture system.

He said it was “a breakthrough technology that pulls CO2 directly from exhaust… [and] the captured carbon can be recycled to boost crop growth or manufacture high-performance materials.

“After years of studying fuels and CO2 exhaust, Mazda now envisions a future where the more kilometres you drive, the more you help reduce CO2.”

The Vision X-Coupe shows Mazda isn’t done chasing rotary glory and even if it never morphs into an RX-9, it proves Hiroshima’s engineers are still obsessed with driving passion and innovation.

Here’s hoping they press the start button this time.