After long-term speculation about Mazda’s plan to revive the RX-7, they are now set to send chills up the spines of rivals with their forthcoming version – an all-new two seater sports car with a turbocharged rotary engine.
Plans to produce a concept form of the RX-7 have been on and off for the last few years, with the grand unveiling supposedly taking place at this years Tokyo Motor Show. However, those plans never went ahead, but now it is reported that the plans are progressing beyond the design of the car and to the all-important power plant stage.
The new model, although a natural successor to the RX-8, will not have an RX-9 badge, but an RX-7 which will stir up memories of the rear-wheel drive Mazda produced in various forms between 1978 and 2002.
The Mazda RX-7 will be using the Renesis 16X rotary engine, as found in the 2007 Taiki concept car. Using 1.6-litres, the turbocharged engine would make more than 300bhp; putting it more in-line with the original high-powered RX-7 sports cars than with the relatively pedestrian RX-8. Continuing with the rotary engine means that Mazda can also ensure the model is easily adaptable to run on hydrogen in the future, which will build on the appeal of the RX-8 as the only rotary engined car currently in production.
The RX-7′s debut is expected towards the end of 2010 and possibly into 2011, by which point the Mazda RX-8 will be seven years old and well and truly ready for retirement, and confirms speculation that the new RX-7 will take over as Mazda’s senior sports car.
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