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Why Mazda Decided to Cancel the RX-8 Successor: Goodbye Wankel Engine!

Ever since Mazda pulled the plug on the RX-8 in 2012 due to falling sales and emission regulations, there have been countless talks about a successor and the new Wankel engine this would require. Now Mazda CEO Masamichi Kogai comes to put an end to all this, stating that the automaker wants to discontinue the RX sportscar series.
Mazda RX-8 X-Men 25 photos
Photo: Mazda
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The CEO talked to Automotive News Europe about Mazda’s future plans and it seems that an RX-8 successor is not included in them. "We don't have that kind of vehicle in our future product plan," Kogai said. "If you increase the number of segments, then the resources we can allocate to each will decline and that will prevent us from developing truly good products."

Truth be told, Mazda is one of the smallest global automakers, which means the company has to carefully evaluate the allocation of its resources. What the CEO explains here is that Mazda doesn’t want to put all its eggs in one basket and use a future sportscar as an image vector, stating that the automaker wants to offer good products in each of the segments it competes in.

The cool-but-problematic Wankel power is the issue here

The cold, hard reality is that Mazda will probably have to give up on its halo sportscar because this has become a synonym for Wankel power. Mazda remained the only carmaker that continued to develop this technology and, as history has taught us, most similar occasions lead to a dead end.

One of the most recent examples here concerns the Volkswagen Group, which aimed to carry on with developing the duse pump diesel injection technology, while the rest of the industry had switched to commonrail injection. Despite being one of the largest car companies in the world, VW dropped the plan and finally jumped the commonrail badnwagon in the late 2000s.

Returning to Mazda, the company would face serious engineering challenges if it decided to continue to pursue rotary power. Reliability and emissions are the greatest issues. The sheer principles that sit behind the engine, bring it a low thermal efficiency, which means the engineers would have to make wonders in order to keep it competitive.

“Why did Mazda continue to develop Wankel power for so many years then?”
we hear you asking. This type of rotary engine does have its benefits, which sporty drivers certainly appreciate. It offers smooth power and is more than rev-happy.

These assets, together with the high volumetric efficiency would make the Wankel perfect for racing. In the motorsport world, the reliability issues would be easily overcome, as repair costs are far from being an issue like they are when it comes to street use. Alas, FIA has banned Wankel power from many racing series, mainly due to the disputes over how these units were classified compared to reciprocating engines in terms of capacity. Another closed door then.

In today’s efficiency obsessed world, people are sensitive to fuel efficiency even when it comes to sportscars, so an RX-8 successor would certainly target a low sales volume, even given the average numbers of the segment itself.

Mazda has a different strategy

Mazda is currently halfway though the Skyactiv revolution that saved the company and brought it back in the profit zone - when Kogai took over back in June 2013, the carmaker has just recorded its first annual profit in half a decade, while now it is posting record profits.

The automaker had set itself a target of 400,000 sales for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, but the CEO explains they’ll have to delay that goal. Kogai says Mazda’s immediate priority is to achieve quality sales, not focus on higher volumes.

Once again, a parallel with the VW Group arises - the Germans were aiming to become the world’s No. 1 carmaker (sales volume) by 2018. This is the reasons for which the company’s various brands had started to cover every possible niche. VW recently came to the conclusion that while it would be possible to achieve their target, it will most likely affect profits, so they’re slowing down their expansion pace.

Returning to Mazda, the automaker introduced the Skyactiv philosophy, which includes areas such as more efficient powertrains and lighter platforms, back in 2011. We’ll see Mazda introduce Skyactiv 2 by 2020 and the gain in efficiency is expected to sit somewhere at 30 percent.

When it comes to the engines, one ace up the engineers’ sleves is the introduction of homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) for petrol engines. Mazda has already designed diesels that work with lower inertia like petrol units (lower compression and special cylinder head design) and now it wants petrols that work like oil burners.

To be more precise, the technology compresses the fuel-air mixture to a very high pressure and temperature, causing this to ignite by itself without needing a spark, just like an oil burner. Of course, the upcoming engines will only use HCCI for limited combustion ranges and still rely on sparks for ignition, but the efficiency gain will be there.

Moreover, Mazda refuses to go down the turbocharged route, rivalling Lamborghini in the race for the last carmakers to stick to natural aspiration. Nonetheless, while the Raging Bull can afford such moves, in the mainstream segments where Mazda competes the consumers don't care about the driving pleasures offered by NA engines, so the Japanese carmaker has to only rely on assets such as reduced mechanical complexity and lower servicing costs.

Mazda now has to keep a tight balance between investing too much in technology, which would result in high prices and making limited use of its financial resources and coming up with only a mild upgrade for its engines.

Speaking of Mazda’s diesels, the company has delayed the US introduction of its oil burners, because it wants its engineers to find a way to meet emission regulations without using exhaust after-treatment (you probably know this as AdBlue).

To get a better idea of how limited Mazda’s resources are, we’ll mention the fact that the company is currently focusing solely on improving traditional internal combustion engine technology. In case you haven’t noticed, Mazda has not pursued electric or hybrid vehicles. Yes, we can talk about petrol-electric power on Mazdas, but that is only because the automaker has licensed the technology from Toyota.

When the company has to work with such variables, a Wankel-powered sportscar is far from being on the table. Personal performance driving desires aside, it’s a pity to see so much Wankel history being shelved instead of being used for marketing to help with the sales of the otherwise intelligent products that make up Mazda’s Skyactiv line-up.
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About the author: Andrei Tutu
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In his quest to bring you the most impressive automotive creations, Andrei relies on learning as a superpower. There's quite a bit of room in the garage that is this aficionado's heart, so factory-condition classics and widebody contraptions with turbos poking through the hood can peacefully coexist.
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