Rotary reborn: Mazda targets 2035 for new RX sports car

Mazda has confirmed plans to bring a rotary-powered sports car to production by 2035, with global CEO Masahiro Moro declaring the company’s commitment to keeping the legendary engine alive.

Speaking at the 2025 Tokyo motor show a day after unveiling the Mazda Vision X-Coupe concept – powered by a 380kW twin-rotor plug-in hybrid powertrain – Mazda president and CEO Masahiro Moro told carsales the brand’s passion for rotary power remains undiminished.

“Mazda is the only company that makes the [rotary] engine. So we are keeping the flame of rotary engine [alive],” Moro explained via interpreter in Tokyo.

“This is the passion we have,” he continued.

When asked whether a production rotary sports car was truly on the cards, Moro was emphatic.

“The rotary engine, we want to realise in 2035. And we actually propose that package,” he said, referring to the Vision X-Coupe’s twin-rotor PHEV system.

Mazda’s global product development boss, Naohito Saga, also confirmed the company retains the capability to manufacture rotary engines.

“So we have rotary engine production equipment now ready and we can use the assets we have and make those engines,” Saga said.

But the path to production will be challenging.

Moro revealed he has given the rotary development team a demanding task: “The rotary development team, I gave an order to the team – to comply the rotary engine with the strict emissions regulations in the world.

“So that is a very high target for rotary engine,” he said.

“We have to comply with the emission regulation or the rotary engine cannot survive. So the engineers are working very hard to work on this strict regulation beyond 2030.”

It’s a long road ahead for Mazda, but the CEO believes technologies such as carbon capture – which draws CO2 directly from exhaust gases at the tailpipe – and a new carbon-neutral fuel project (co-developed with oil giant Petronas) will be key to making the rotary viable in a low-emissions future.

“So rotary engine can be used for direct drive of engine or power you expect [for] that kind of development,” Moro said.

“I think now we can put in a target for production.”

He confirmed ongoing R&D and testing for the emissions reducing tech will continue through motorsport programs and eventually make their way into production cars.

“Before introducing [the CO2 reduction innovations] to market, we want a demonstration test. Next month we have a super endurance [motorsport race] in Japan,” he said, referring to Mazda3 race cars equipped with carbon-capture tech.

Moro also highlighted the rotary’s inherent benefits.

“It’s going to be very important to make the car developed to be light weight. At the moment the battery [of a PHEV] is heavy. So we need to make the car bigger, the brakes bigger etc. We need the advent of technology to break that vicious cycle,” he said.

“A rotary engine is compact and lightweight, therefore I think there’s an advantage using rotary for PHEV. So we can have the battery capacity less than half the usual battery,” Moro explained.

The CEO suggested Mazda's future rotary strategy could involve multiple powertrain configurations to suit different customer needs.

"It depends on each customer. We can deliver different solutions for different customers. In the future we are going to make the unit compact."

While 2035 might seem distant – and Mazda's history of stunning rotary concepts that never reached production gives reason for scepticism – Moro-san’s comments represent the most concrete commitment to a production rotary sports car the brand has made in years.

Mazda’s carbon capture technology will debut in late November at a super endurance race in Japan, which could prove crucial in determining whether the rotary engine has a viable future beyond 2030.

For rotary enthusiasts who've been burned before by the Mazda RX-Vision and Vision Coupe concepts, Moro's response to further questioning from carsales about a launch date will be frustrating for long-suffering fans.

His frank admission that he was "Not sure about timelines yet,” following so much positive talk during the interview, will be discouraging for the rotary faithful.

“But I myself am a big rotary fan. It's a passion. We want to give that passion [back to customers]," Moro insisted.

For now at least, the flame is still burning in Hiroshima – and this time, at least there's some semblance of a target year attached – even if it’s a decade away.

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