Mazda Forms Team Specializing in Rotary Development

Mazda will establish a team dedicated to rotary engine development in February, CEO Katsuhiro Morozazu announced at the 2024 Tokyo Auto Salon last weekend.

Following the success of the Iconic SP concept, an electric sports car equipped with a rotary as a range extender, which was unveiled last year, the company says it will establish a new rotary development team to "bring this dream closer."

Mazda already sells a rotary engine vehicle. Mazda's MX-30 electric compact crossover has a rotary range extender in select markets.

A similar setup is used in the Iconic SP concept, which foreshadows a future production sports car. Mazda did not reveal details about the concept's powertrain, but said the range extender is a compact twin-rotor rotary with a scalable design and the flexibility to run on a variety of fuels, including hydrogen.

According to Motor1, Mazda previously had a rotary development team, which was disbanded in 2018.

That earlier team was apparently working on a rotary engine that could power the vehicle's wheels directly rather than via an electric motor; in 2015, Mazda unveiled the RX-Vision concept, a rotary sports car in a traditional front-engine, rear-wheel drive configuration.

However, Mazda executives have repeatedly made it clear that it would be difficult to make the rotary emissions compliant. As a result, Mazda currently uses the rotary engine only as a range extender for EVs.