Mazda rotor concept car quarterfinals
The selections here are the best Wankel rotary engine concept cars of all time
Although it was never actually produced
The rotor engine was not invented by Mazda, the German Mr. Wankel, but Mazda is undoubtedly the automaker most closely related to the rotor engine. Although almost every major automaker paid a patent fee to try to study this design in the 1960s, only Mazda succeeded in mass production.
Starting with Cosmo in 1967, Mazda has built more than 2 million rotor-powered cars. The last rotor-powered RX-8 was discontinued in 2012. But recently Mazda intends to revive the technology by building an MX-30 electric car with a small rotor engine as a range extender.
Of course, every time Mazda introduced a new rotor-engine model, it would show off a beautifully made prototype or concept car at the auto show, giving fans a sneak peek at the engineer's creations and imaginations. They've never really been produced, too bad.
1970 Mazda RX-500
The Mazda RX-500 was exhibited at the 1970 Tokyo Motor Show to celebrate Mazda's fiftieth anniversary. Powered by a pair of mid-mounted 982c.c. twin-rotor engines capable of 15,000 rpm, 247bhp horsepower, net weight of only 850kg and a reported top speed of about 241km/h. The RX-500 created butterfly doors long before the Lamborghini Countach, and the taillights behind them change color based on the car's dynamics such as acceleration, braking or cruising.
1985 Mazda MX-03
The Mazda MX-03 is a high-tech car made in the mid-eighties. The 2.0-litre three-rotor engine has 315bhp and is fully functional, including four-wheel steering, four-wheel drive, head-up display, and an airplane-inspired steering wheel. The shape of the line is extremely smooth, only with a single wing rearview mirror to reduce wind resistance, the speed is about 290km/h, 0-97km/h can be completed in 5 seconds.
1987 Mazda MX-04
The front-engined rear-wheel-drive Mazda MX-04 was unveiled at the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show, and its selling point, USP, was the interchangeable fiberglass body parts, meaning you could shape the glass-roofed sports car to your personal preferences...
1987 Mazda MX-04 Roadster
See this open roadster without a windshield. In 1987, the development of the MX-5 was in full swing. Imagine if we ended up with this MX-04 roadster in 1989, do you think it would be as popular as the MX-5?
1995 Mazda RX-01
By 1995, the RX-7 had become one of Japan's four great gods, becoming a complex and expensive flagship sports car, so at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show, Mazda restored the basic steps and exhibited a front-engined 2+2 room run that weighed more than a ton. Powered by a naturally aspirated rotor engine, Mazda's last rotor-powered production model (the 2003 RX-8) was built on this engine. The RX-01 has approximately 220bhp of horsepower and the engine is mounted in a rear position to provide space for a cleverly designed ventilated front spoiler.
2007 Mazda Taiki
The Taiki teardrop-shaped body and built-in rear wheels have a drag coefficient as low as Cd0.25 and are powered by the RX-8's Renesis rotor engine. It looks like a pie hanging in the air, playful and stylish, but the Taiki is not as popular as concept cars such as the RX-01, MX-04 and MX-03.
2008 Mazda Furai
Furai's Japanese meaning is "wind", the sound of the wind. Furai's chassis design is based on Mazda's 2005 racing Carage C65 LMP2, with a 450bhp three-rotor engine fueled by pure bioethanol, furai's concept was very avant-garde at that time, giving a new definition to the concept car, which is undoubtedly a masterpiece.
2014 Mazda LM55
The 2014 LM55 was one of the virtual models created in the PlayStation game Gran Turismo, and it still looks pretty today. Its name is taken from the 55th part of the 787B, which won an unlikely victory for Mazda in 1991 at Le Mans. Mazda has never made a moving LM55, and at the 2015 Goodwood Festival of Speed, Mazda placed a full-size model of the LM55 on top of a factory emblem sculpture.
2015 Mazda RX-Vision
The Mazda RX-vision, probably one of the most beautiful concept cars of all time, first appeared at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, featuring the Mazda "Kodo" design language, built for the next generation of Skyactiv-R rotor engines, and the last news we heard was that the RX-Vision was expected to go into production within 2020, which was a tribute to Mazda's anniversary, but it seems unlikely to happen now. We sincerely hope that one day Mazda will release a similar model. Meanwhile, earlier this year, Mazda released an RX-Vision GT3 for Gran Turismo.