In 2012, Mazda ended its work on the RX-7 and RX-8, which led many to believe that the development of a new Mazda rotary engine was dead. Since little was heard of it after that, many continued to think that it had been scrapped. Fortunately, recent announcements showed that Mazda continued the project without any interruptions and had been making steady progress toward completing the design. With this new engine still on the table, here is a look at three benefits of Mazda’s Rotary Engine.
Increased Power Output
Rotary engines are not a new concept. In fact, there are other very recognizable brand names out there that produce or use rotary engines in their previous designs. This is because rotary engines can provide a higher power output than cylinder engines. Because they use a rotary compression method as opposed to a cylinder compression method, they can handle larger amounts of fuel during combustion and produce more power per stroke. That means that you can have a rotary engine car move much faster than a cylinder engine car with roughly the same amount of fuel.
Advancements in Technology
Despite their benefits, rotary engines are not widely used in the auto market. That is because they have some inherent design issues that make it difficult for them to meet emissions and maintenance standards. Completing the new rotary engine means that Mazda will have solved many of these issues.
Rotary engines generally burn less cleanly than modern cylinder engines. To resolve this, Mazda is testing out several new ideas including lasers and plasma systems. These new technologies will be used to start the ignition process similar to how spark plugs work in a cylinder engine. Because of the rotary engine’s design, common solutions like spark plugs won’t work. Solving these problems means that Mazda will have developed new implementations for cutting-edge technologies that can be used across the auto market to make all vehicles better.
A New Mazda Brand
One of the most interesting developments from the completion of the Mazda Rotary Engine would be the development of a new Mazda performance brand. Many of the other leading companies have specialized sub-brands that are focused on performance. Nissan NISMO, BMW M-Series, and Mercedes AMG are just a few examples of how these sub-brands can radically change carmakers as a whole. If the rotary engine is finished, Mazda will be able to start its own performance brand centered around that engine.
Work on the new rotary engine is still ongoing, and it may be a while before it is anywhere near production. Mazda, like the rest of the industry, is focusing on other design ideas to prepare for the coming years where alternative fuel and power systems will be necessary. So, the rotary engine project is on the back burner for now. However, you can see what Mazda has available now that can give you the performance of a rotary engine by visiting Mazda of Vacaville. There are plenty of Mazda options available that are built with the same focus and tenacity as Mazda puts in its new engine projects.
Image via Flickr by brianc licensed via CC BY 2.0
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