Rumor: Mazda RX-9 Rotary Engine Coming in 2017
By Paulo Acoba
Ever since Mazda dropped its RX Vision concept, journalists have been hammering Mazda for a solid timeline of when we’ll see production.
Power output, fuel economy and durability. Those were the three keywords Mazda execs put in their press release as the main themes for this next generation Sky-Activ Rotary engine. And now there’s a possible timeline. According to our Motoring friends over at Motoring.com, an exec at Mazda has hinted to them that their Rotary engine will be available around 2017. When one Mazda exec was questioned on how much power the Mazda RX-9 would make, one Mazda exec said.
"“You will have to wait until 2017 to find out what will power this car. “That’s our rotary’s 50th anniversary year.”"
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And if you look through the annals of Mazda history, you’ll find that indeed the 1967 Mazda Cosmo was the first production engine to future this revolutionary technology.
We already know that Mazda has a dedicated team working on making the Mazda rotary engine a reality as soon as possible.
When we go back to those original three tenants, we’re confident that Mazda can get the reliability down to acceptable levels. There are also rumors floating around the power will be assisted thanks to an electric turbo kicking in at lower RPM’s with a standard turbo taking over at higher RPM’s. And as far as fuel efficiency is concerned, we think that hybrid technology will play a heavy role in making sure that MPG figures are well within reach if not more competitive than its internal combustion counterparts.
We think Mazda is banking on the fact that battery technology is growing by leaps and bounds and hopefully they can implement a system affordable enough into the RX-9.
Next: This Is It: Mazda's Rotary Powered RX-VISION Concept Headed For Tokyo
We’re sure we’ll hear more rumors on this next-gen Rotary sooner rather than later. Until then, we’ll just have to sit and wait.