Another day, another rumour of Mazda reviving the rotary-powered sports car. These days the rumours are a dime a dozen; and yet as much as many of them stem from interviews with Mazda’s top brass, there has been absolutely no confirmation from Mazda themselves, and the stories differ much. Why then am I writing yet another story to fuel the fire of something that might not be true? Well, this time it may hold some truth…
Mazda has recently re-launched the brand in South Africa after being left by the wayside for some time by Ford. So, as eager petrolheads do, I took a trip to my nearest dealership to see what the brand had to offer – not product wise, the new 3 and 6 are rather brilliant, but rather in terms of service at a dealer level. I was doing a bit of mystery shopping, and I’m pleased to say that the sales service at the new Bruma dealership was brilliant, but that’s beside the point entirely. I asked the sales rep when we’d be seeing the MX-5 locally, to which he opened and e-mail from some higher power that contained the estimated dates of future releases.
Here’s the gist of what it said:
- Mazda 2 – 2015
- Mazda 5 – 2015
- Mazda MX-5 – 2015
- Mazda RX-9 – to be displayed in 2015.
That last one caught my eye too! From what I could gather, and from what the sales rep could tell me, the Mazda RX-9 will be making its pre-production debut late in 2015, most likely at theFrankfurtmotor show in September 2015.
There were no photos I could sneakily ask to get copies of, and there seem to be no further details about power etc, but the fact that a prototype has been confirmed – sort of – for 2015 is hope of an RX-9 to come.
Naturally, we’d love to comment on the engine, which will most definitely be a rotary – that’s a non-negotiable. In all likelihood it’ll be a variant of the 16x engine we’ve seen in the past, but we’re unsure of whether or not it’ll receive any forced induction as standard. Mazda have previously mentioned their disdain for turbos, but by the time it reaches production in 2016/7, a turbocharged 16X might just be best for the RX9.
We’re hoping for power figures somewhere in the range of 250kW, with a weight of around 1100Kg, but that’s just wishful thinking on our part.
Whatever happens, we hope this rumour proves to be something of substance. A new RX model is most certainly long overdue.
