It’s been over a year since Mazda unveiled the Iconic SP Concept during the Japan Mobility Show 2023. It was one of the concepts that created a lot of buzz during the show, stirring rumors of a rotary revival.
Key personnel from Mazda have repeatedly mentioned that they would like to turn that concept car into reality. Now, it has been confirmed by the chief designer, Masahi Nakayama, that Mazda is set to turn it into a production model.
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Yes, you heard that right. This isn’t just a tease anymore, and Mazda’s rotary engine development team has been reactivated to ‘ get closer to this dream.’ designed with real intent to turn it into a production model. “This concept is not just one of those empty show cars. It has been designed with real intent to turn it into a production model in the not-so-distant future,” said Nakayama.
Mazda President and CEO Masahiro Moro further elaborated on the rotary sports car revival. He mentioned that the current rotary engineering team consists of 30 members with the intent of making this powertrain fit in today’s world of carbon neutrality. It’s a tough ask, but Mazda has taken baby steps to achieve that.
At the moment, Mazda has the MX-30 R-EV. It’s a range extender EV that uses a rotary engine to charge up the batteries. It seems likely that Mazda will take this route for its new flagship sports car. More recently, Mazda has file a patent for a three-rotor engine hooked up to an electric drive system.
For now, there is no exact timeline for the new rotary sports car, but the confirmation means that we could expect it before the end of the decade.
