Mazda CEO: No Plans For A Rotary Revival

William Maley

Staff Writer - CheersandGears.com

November 26, 2013

Some sad news for those hoping for another Mazda vehicle with the rotary engine. Masa-michi Koga, Mazda's new CEO tells Automotive News that for the rotary engine to become commercially viable, Mazda would need to sell around 100,000 vehicles a year.

"No plans now. It has to be a viable commercial proposition. If we are going to adopt it, it has to be a product that can generate at least sales of 100,000 units a year. We have to be able to achieve a profit," said Kogai.

Since Mazda pulled the plug on the RX-8 last year, rumors and speculation has been running rampant. Within the past few months, Mazda's former CEO expressed the idea of putting a rotary engine into a hybrid vehicle to generate electricity to charge the battery. There was also the rumor back in August which stated Mazda was hard at work on a new rotary engine that was expected to come out in 2015 or so.

Now Koga doesn't fully slam the door shut on the rotary engine. He said that engineers are still researching rotary engines as they are able to run on a variety of fuels.

"We are the first and only manufacturer to commercialize the rotary engine. In that respect, we have some responsibility. So please allow us to continue our research," said Kogai.

Source: Automotive News (Subscription Required)

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.