Rotary-Powered Mazda Supposedly Coming in 2020, Unicorns Also Real
Rumors are fun. See, the thing about rumors is that you don't need actual facts. You can cite "anonymous sources" who have "knowledge of the plan" and nobody can prove you wrong.
Take the latest rumor, which has Mazda producing a rotary-powered car by 2020. It all sounds great. It's also not close to the first time we've heard that Mazda will be producing a new rotary in the imminent future.
This is a pretty good break down, but a new RX-7-or just a rotary-powered Mazda-has been promised for nigh on a decade. Ten years! We've heard 2009, we've heard 2012, we've heard 2017 (which would be appropriate as its the 50th anniversary of the rotary), and now we've heard 2020 (the Tokyo Olympics and Mazda's 100th anniversary).
At this point, it's more likely we'll have fully autonomous cars on the road in 2020 than a rotary Mazda. At least we see autonomous cars out on the roads, testing.
The closest we've gotten is the lovely RX-Vision concept that debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show last year. The problem is that it didn't actually run. And after it debuted, Mazda confirmed that while it continues work on a rotary engine, it isn't something that is ready to go to the public yet. Mazda has said "when the world is ready to buy another rotary, we'll be ready to supply it."
A small issue with that is that the world hasn't been ready to buy a rotary in ages. Even when the rotary was in production, the world wasn't ready to buy a rotary. The RX-8 didn't exactly sell like hotcakes. It sold like the opposite of hot cakes. In its best year, 2004, Mazda sold 23,690 RX-8s in the US. Every other year, Mazda sold fewer than 15,000 RX-8s, with most years being fewer than 10,000. Other than the first three years of RX-8 sales, the Miata outsold the rotary-powered sports car, typically by a factor of three.
Is that a compelling case to build a new rotary? Not really. But the rotary is part of Mazda's heritage. However, after almost a decade of rumors that have amounted to one concept and no working engine, we're more than skeptical about a new RX-7 hitting the road.
Prove us wrong Mazda, prove us wrong. Until you do, we'll also believe that Nissan is introducing a real, living unicorn in 2022.
