Parkway Family Mazda is wanting to give some wishful info on the re-imagined Mazda RX-7. Word on the street has Mazda resurrecting the Mazda RX-7, this time as an agile, lightweight, two-seat coupe with a next-gen 250-hp rotary engine. The company penciled in a 2015-16 launch date. The price will hover around $30,000 -- cheaper than a Porsche Cayman, more expensive than a Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZ.
The sporty coupe isn't fully signed off on yet, but its rotary engine is under development, and the project is planned as the
MX-5's platform mate.
The MX-5 goes on sale in 2015.
Mazda's official line on the new RX-7 is a typically Japanese “no concrete plans.” Privately, though, executives admit the car and new rotary are underway. They also say the launch date is included in Mazda's long-term product plan; it calls for “five new cars by the end of financial year 2016.” The company announced the plan at the Tokyo motor show.
We've heard a few styling and technical details. Sources confirm that Mazda's Advanced Design team is working on the RX-7. While it's built on the same simple design philosophy as the new
MX-5, we're told final design is a long way from being production-ready. Mazda chief designer Ikuo Maeda is supervising the work, and he has an RX-7 family link: His father was design boss in the '70s when Mazda created the original.
Maeda says he doesn't “yet know what a new coupe should look like, but I want it built before I retire,” sometime in the next five to seven years. He adds that retro styling is unlikely.
Technical specifications have emerged. The new rotary engine won't have a turbocharger, limiting ultimate power output, but it falls in line with Mazda's longer-term powertrain strategy to concentrate on highly efficient gas engines. For example, Mazda rules out downsizing and low-pressure turbocharging in its inline fours, opting in favor of efficiencies with its 1.5-, 2.0- and 2.5-liter Skyactiv family. Mazda also showed a new compact 330cc swept-capacity single-chamber rotary at a Tokyo technical event -- a Mazda 2 EV with a rotary range-extender. Don't panic: The production RX-7 isn't a sporty Volt. It has a conventional powertrain.
Global marketing chief Masahiro Moro says building the new coupe's business case is already proving tricky. “I just don't see the right numbers in the equation yet,” he says. Still, Mazda's rotary development continues, and we hear engine capacity is around 600cc per rotor, slightly smaller than the RX-8's 650cc. Mazda is still deciding between twin or triple rotors; one source suggests a twin rotor is most likely, making the new RX-7 engine a 1.2-liter, roughly equivalent to a conventional engine's 2.4 liters. Power output, fuel efficiency and reliability likely improve; sources suggest about 250 hp, similar to the RX-8.
Given the new RX-7's potential rivals -- the next-gen Toyota GT-86 (FR-S, BRZ) and next-gen Nissan 370Z -- the Mazda must blend relatively low-power output with a lightweight chassis to keep the enthusiasts happy.
That's where the
MX-5 comes in. It will likely end up weighing 2,400 pounds, so the RX-7 should weigh about 2,800 pounds.
The new
Mazda MX-5 features “very clean and simple” styling to make what a company veteran describes as “our best-looking car ever.” Sources say it has muscular proportions, a more forward-mounted front axle and a longish hood. They say it is recognizable as an MX-5 with clean styling.
As with the RX-7, Maeda says the
MX-5 design is not retro. He wants to distance the new car from the soft, round original 1989 MX-5. He says we shouldn't look for the Mazda 3 and 6's five-point grille, for example.
MX-5 engines are normally aspirated 1.5- and 2.0-liter fours. Power outputs aren't confirmed, but we expect conservative horsepower numbers to go with that 2,400-pound curb weight.
On sale in 2015, the new
MX-5
is scheduled to debut at next year's Chicago Auto Show, where the original was launched in '89.
