Rotary

The Wankel rotary, the peculiar pistonless internal combustion engine design that Mazda built so much of its heritage around, may see a resurgence after all. Earlier reports and remarks from Mazda executives have suggested that while the rotary will make a comeback, it will be relegated to...

The electric-car revolution may give new life to an old gas engine. On Tuesday, timed to coincide with the Paris auto show, Mazda announced it will add plug-in capability and electric power to all of its models by 2030. Some will be plug-in hybrids or range-extended electric cars—with a...

Mazda's famed rotary engine may spin once again. The automaker confirmed the development of a range-extending rotary engine with Toyota for use in a shared future project. Toyota revealed the e-Palette concept on Monday at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The vehicle, a...

How Mazda plans to integrate plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles into its range of increasingly efficient gasoline and diesel models is a topic that interests parts of the global auto industry. In 2019, the small Japanese maker will offer a combustion-engine technology never before...

Recent patent filings suggest Mazda’s next Wankel engine will equip a battery-powered car, not a rear-wheel drive heir to emblematic sports coupes like its RX-7 and RX-8. Mazda has invested more time and money into the rotary engine than any other automaker, so executives are reluctant to let...

Mazda is a relative minnow in the auto industry sea, but for such an independent company it punches above its weight in engineering terms. It's still one of few companies to offer a simple two-seater sports car in a world of more profitable crossovers and hatchbacks. It's developed an entirely new...

While the Wankel rotary engine, Mazda’s power plant of choice for many years, has a fantastic power to weight ratio, it isn’t exactly what you’d call a green engine. As a consequence, since the Mazda RX-8 ended its production in June this year, you won’t find a rotary engine...

You may have noticed we feature the late Mazda RX-8 rather less often than the Chevrolet Volt range-extended electric car. Considering the final iteration of the four-seat, four-door sports car delivered just 23 mpg highway from its 1.3-liter Renesis rotary engine, it really wasn’t a green...

Oh, the horror, the horror. Once again, the world is coming to an end. No, not tsunamis, or earthquakes, or tornadoes, or plagues. Not even locusts. Nope, it's the evil specter of hybrid technology that will conclusively decimate all of mankind, depriving it forever of driving fun, pleasure, and...

Electric cars like the 2011 Chevrolet Volt and 2011 Fisker Karma get around the problem of range anxiety the old-fashioned way: They use gasoline engines. They do it because the battery systems of pure electric vehicles are large, heavy, and expensive, but the range they produce is still...