Mazda RX-VISION concept – does this mean the rotary-engined sports car is coming back?

Mazda is going strong – very strong – with their internationally successful MX-5 small roadster.  But whatever happened to their bigger rotary-engined RX sports cars.  Remember the Mazda RX-2 Capella RX-7 and RX-8?

Mazda the only one to stick to rotary engine

Mazda stuck to its rotary engine design for many years, which, put simply, uses a triangular rotor which circles around inside the engine to form the combustion cycle, rather than pistons going up and down inside cylinders as inside a normal engine.  Over the years the rotary engine became synonymous with Mazda.  The rotary engine could spin up easily to very high revs, and has a very distinctive sound.

There were other cars which also had rotary engines, like the NSU Ro80, but Mazda was the last to keep using this engine type.  It had Mazda RX-2 (including the hot Capella model), Mazda RX-7 (throwback to the 1980s and 1990s) and then the RX-8 2+2-door sports car, which went off the SA market in 2009.  Search for a used Mazda RX-8 on Auto Trader site.

Mazda RX-VISION is rotary-engined sports car concept

Now, with the RX-8 long gone, and with it the rotary engine, is Mazda planning to resurrect the rotary engine in a production version of the RX-VISION?  Quite possibly.  Mazda has coined the SKYACTIV phrase which it uses to describe its engine technology being efficient, as seen on SKYACTIV Technology badges on the rear and engines of modern Mazdas.  The RX-VISION engine has already been named SKYACTIV-R, so does this indicate Mazda’s seriousness about building the next rotary engine?