The rotary engine will make a comeback, but it won’t come from the brand most known for using it in performance cars. Mazdabut comes from a Chinese manufacturer.
Accordingly Car scoopsChina’s Changan Automobile Group, which developed the Mazda 6e due to arrive in Australia in mid-2026 through its joint venture with the Japanese brand, has confirmed it will produce a single-rotor internal combustion engine from 2027.
However, it will not be available in a road vehicle as the 53 kW rotary engine is planned for a low-flying aircraft and a more powerful version with two rotors is in development that offers more than twice the power.
Changan will develop both naturally aspirated and turbocharged versions, he said Car scoopsand is working on the project with ARIDGE, the flying car arm of the Chinese automaker Xpengand Chinese technology giant Huawei.
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Although the new rotary engine is officially unrelated to Mazda, the connection between the two companies suggests that it could be the edge needed to see rotary-powered Mazdas back in showrooms.
The Wankel engine, according to Dr. Felix Wankel, who first patented it in 1936, known as the Wankel engine, uses a rotating “rotor” instead of reciprocating pistons.
The simple design brings benefits including fewer moving parts and a more compact overall size, promising reliability and lower maintenance costs (at least in theory).
It was also intended to provide smoother and quieter operation, although these characteristics may be debated by enthusiasts, as the Wankel engine’s distinctive ‘brap’ engine is far from quiet in heavily modified examples.
The first production car with rotary drive was the Ro80 from the German brand NSU in 1967, which is now represented by one of the four rings Audi Brand. Mazda later licensed the engine for use in its first rotary-powered model, the 1967 Cosmo.
In Australia it is R100 The city car was the first Mazda to use a rotary piston engine. At the time, the company assumed that the engine would make conventional piston drives obsolete.
Rotary-powered Mazdas have won the Bathurst 12 Hour Endurance Race, the Australian Touring Car Championship and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France.
While it was fitted to a number of Mazdas in single, twin and even three-rotor versions – turbocharged and all – the last rotary piston offered was the RX-8which went off sale in 2012.
Excluded is a brief return of the MX-30 range-extender electric vehicle, which will be sold in Australia between 2022 and 2023 and uses a single-rotor motor to charge a battery for an electric motor that drives the front wheels.
Mazda fans have endured years of speculation about the future of rotary-powered vehicles in the brand’s lineup, particularly the future of these vehicles RX-7 Sports car, last produced in 2002, in addition to the RX-8.
Mazda has said it will continue working on Wankel engines after showing the Vision
This follows the Mazda Iconic SP concept shown at the 2023 Tokyo event as a potential rotary-powered successor to the RX-7, with a production version yet to be confirmed.
MORE: Explore the Mazda showroom
