Yahoo Autos Mazda hasn't completely ruled out launching a rotary-powered sports car
Mazda brought the rotary engine back with a whimper by using it as a range extender in the MX-30. Enthusiasts who would rather see it under a coupe's long hood aren't entirely out of luck, but the Japanese company clarified that a Wankel-powered sports car isn't in the cards.
"Rotary is our symbol. It's a dream of engineers at Mazda to have a sports car with [a] rotary. Now is not the time for that," explained Yoshiaki Noguchi, the assistant manager of Mazda's powertrain development division, in an interview with British magazine Autocar.
It doesn't sound like the engineering team's dream will come true in the near future. Noguchi clarified that Mazda's current priority is to electrify the core members of its range in the coming years — it's investing in electric and hybrid technology. When that's done, the firm's executives will reconsider whether to launch a long-awaited successor to the rotary-powered RX-8 that went out of production in 2012.
