New life for rotary engine

Mazda seems poised to bring resolution to an important but vexed debate which for years has gone round and round in circles: namely what to do about its iconic but thirsty, CO2-belching and oil-gulping Wankel rotary engine.

Back at the start of the year, design division chief Laurens van den Acker was telling evo that ‘while the rotary is a core part of our heritage the question is whether it should continue to be associated with sports cars, or whether it should take a different direction because of its poor CO2 and fuel-economy characteristics…

‘It could, for example, run efficiently on hydrogen or as a hybrid or fuel cell. Its future requires a lot of study but, as it stands, we can’t afford to have it in our line-up in view of the new Euro V emissions.’Better take a look at the Mazda Taiki concept sports car that was displayed on its stand at the Tokyo show, then. The car is important not for the design in itself – unlike some other Mazda concepts, the Taiki will never see a production line – but for what’s under the bonnet.

There lies a next-generation rotary engine. The company’s engineers say they have found new materials and other technology to cure all the age-old ills of the current design. It will be cleaner and more powerful – and, for sure, it will now form the core of future generations of Mazda sports cars.