The Mazda MX-30 Rotary-EV was revealed in January, introduced in Europe in the following month, and is now coming to Japan with the automaker’s 8C engine under the hood. The car has its steering wheel on the right-hand side, but is otherwise identical to its European version. The petrol engine is not connected to the wheels in any way and simply acts as a power generator for the main motor. Drivers can top up the traction battery from a regular wall socket or a high-power charging station as well, and the car can share its charge with external appliances when needed.
The engine has a rotary-piston design and
830cc (0.83 l) of displacement, maxing out at just 72 horsepower at
4,700 RPM and 112 Nm of torque at 4,500 RPM. The main electric motor
is better off with 170 PS heading for the wheels and 17.8 kWh
of available battery capacity. It can run 107 km with the gas tank
empty, but top it up, and the resulting hybrid range amounts to 600 km.
Drivers can switch between three main
powertrain modes: EV (sufficient charge required), Normal (slowly expending gas
and electricity), and Charge (driving on limited power generated by the gas
engine while replenishing the battery). The top speed is 140 km/h,
and reaching 100 km/h is a matter of a slow 9.1 seconds.
The drive is on the front axle only.
Prices in Japan start from ¥ 4,235,000. The first buyers will be treated to a
special trim level called Edition R, complete with an exclusive exterior paint
scheme and other unique design gimmicks.
