What will replace mazda rx8

You have to hand it to Mazda. When many of its rivals are bumping up the displacement of their sports car engines and adding forced induction technology in an effort to draw more power, Mazda is sticking to its rotary heritage for both its current and future generation of sports cars.

The Japanese automaker is reportedly working on a successor to its ultra-sexy FD RX-7, which bowed out of the market in the earlier part of the decade. An inside source has revealed to Edmunds that not only is a new RX-7 in the works but a brand new Renesis rotary engine is too.

The story doesn't end there as the same sources has said that the new RX-7 may actually replace the slow-selling and relatively expensive RX Due for launch in late , the new car is expected to eschew outright performance and prestige in favor of affordability and reliability. Mazda is reportedly looking to evoke the character of the original RX-7 sold in the U. As Mazda prepares its next-generation RX-8 reports are leaking through that the design will be more evolutionary than revolutionary.

With the model's seventh birthday fast approaching the team at Mazda are hurrying to finalise the product in time to compete with such new comers as the Hyundai Genesis Coupe and newly announced Toyota FT Mazda's head of design Ikuo Maeda told media at the Tokyo Motor Show that the next-generation car will be an evolutionary design of the current car and retain the same flavour when it comes to design cues and technology.

The split-rear-door treatment is also likely to remain. The 1. He wouldn't confirm whether the new car would have a rotary engine or not but said that Mazda is still considering a new generation of the technology.

But I have been saying everywhere that we will continue research on the rotary engine. We will not extinguish the flame of the rotary engine. That kind of product is iconic for our brand. Bigger and more powerful than the Mazda MX-5 , the car is aimed at a launch, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the launch of the Cosmo Sport, the first Mazda powered by a Wankel rotary engine. The RX-8, discontinued in , weighed in at around 1,kg — kg more than a modern Toyota GT Familiar six-speed manual and five-speed auto gearboxes will be similarly honed for the new high-performance application.

Mazda has a rich history of rotary-powered cars, starting with the Cosmo Sport of the late 60s, which developed up to bhp and could hit mph.