Rotary to get SKY rebirth?

Mazda has gone back to the drawing board to resurrect the rotary as a high-efficiency powerplant. That's the news from Mazda's most senior engineer, Director and board member, Seita Kanai.

Uniquely linked to the Japanese brand, the rotary is Mazda's "gem" says Kanai-san, but he cautions Mazda must "polish" its gem for it to be relevant in a more fuel and emission conscious world.

Kanai says he intends to bring the rotary into the new millennium with a high-efficiency makeover that will make it worthy of Mazda's new low-emission SKY badging.

"We are not aiming for a small improvement," he says.

"Fuel economy is our handicap [with rotary], so we must drastically improve otherwise the next generation rotary cannot survive. But there is potentially a very large improvement available therefore it is important that we do this," Kanai-san told the Carsales Network.

Kanai would not provide details but intimated his engineers were starting from a clean sheet. Said the global R&D boss, his engineers are going "very deeply back into the basic design of rotary".

"Today we cannot name it this but a SKY rotary engine is under development."

Kanai say he will only introduce a SKY rotary if the engine can match the SKY-G direct-injected reciprocating petrol four in terms of efficiency, fuel consumption and emissions.

"The rotary is a gem for us so if we polish it, it will shine more... And we are the only ones who know how to polish it. There are perhaps millions of engineers working on refining [normal] engines... We have perhaps only hundreds [on rotary]

Kanai says Mazda has achieved a kind of miracle in keeping the rotary 'alive' to date. He says he is looking to "carry on that miracle" by producing a SKY rotary.

"That is my intention", Kanai said.

Read the latest Carsales Network news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site