If there’s any Mazda that we would really love to
see back in production, it would be the RX series and its famed rotary engine.
It’s more likely to comeback as RX-9, a successor to the RX-7 and RX-8, with
the latter stopped production in 2012.
The RX-9 is envisioned to be a class above the Miata
roadster, which will have the same configuration – front engine, rear-wheel drive,
and ready to kick some ass. As this render suggests, it will have a coupe form
to represent the brand’s Kodo design language, with long hood to house the
rotary engine, crowned with Mazda’s signature grille. It’ll be taking cues from
the RX-Vision Concept from 2015, albeit, less imposing yet more muscular on its
front and rear fender flares.
There are no concrete details about the interior
cues yet, but it will most likely carry Jinbai Ittai (the oneness between the
horse and its rider) and Mazda’s interpretation of the pure joy of driving. As
a sports coupe, this speculation isn’t far-fetched.
The greatest thing in the RX-9 is its rotary engine,
which is likely to be called SkyActiv-R (still based on the RX-Vision Concept).
Mazda’s currently in the development stage of the Wankel engine, with a filed
patent suggesting that it will be rotated 180 degrees from before to put the
exhaust ports on top for a shorter piping to the turbocharger, thus, less lag.
The patent also suggests a tri-angle rotor and new fuel injectors that are
closer to the combustion chamber, hopefully for better fuel efficiency and
emissions.
