The rotary engine will live on.
According to Inside Line, Mazda has a next-generation RX-7 well
into its development phase and is also working on a next-gen RX-8
which will carry the name one digit further and be called the
RX-9.
But if the rotary engine is not dead Mazda, it appears, is keen
on killing off some of its drawbacks. Mazda's rotary power plant
has been heavily criticized for poor fuel economy, bad emissions
and a penchant for burning up engine oil. Now, the company is
claiming to have made improvements to the previous rotary
engineering.
The new 16X twin-rotor engine will come with an 800cc x 2
configuration (the current is a 654 cc x 2) and will better fuel
consumption by about 20 percent all while generating 270 hp.
Also in the works for the next-generation RX-7 is a new
dual-clutch 6-speed transmission where the driver can set the rev
marker at which the gear changes are to be made.
Mazda is also bettering economy by reducing weight and has put
both new models on a diet. A new chassis has lightened the RX-7 by
about 220 pounds (100 kg) with the curb weight coming in at 2,640
pounds (1200 kg).
We'll have to wait and see what the results will be.
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insideline via autoblog
Would you like some car with those wheels? This latest rendering
of the anticipated Mazda RX-9 sports car comes from an enthusiast
in Japan and was posted on the Ford fan forum FoMoCoNews.com.
Although the artist swears that it's close to the mark, the
actual design, like the rendering featured on Winding
Road, is expected to more faithfully portray the styling
language previewed on the radical Furai concept. This illustration,
meanwhile, appears to be more of an evolution of the current RX-8,
but with enormous rims that would have to be somewhere in the
neighborhood of 25 inches (which is farther than this thing would
make it on public roads with those ground effects).
[Source: FoMoCoNews.com]