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 More than 40 years of offbeat automotive history has come to an end,
not totally unexpectedly. Mazda's long production of its Wankel-cycle
engine concluded last Friday when the company's final RX-8 sport coupe,
its last vehicle using the rotary engine, rolled off the assembly line
in Hiroshima last Friday, Automotive News reported.
The rotary's feathery internal spinning weight and insane RPM put
Mazda solidly on the radar when the engine debuted in the 1967 Cosmo
Sport. Since then, it had become increasingly less relevant, mainly due
to its thirstiness. Mazda remains alone among Japanese automakers for
its lack of profitability. The rotary's brightest moment came in 1991,
when Mazdaspeed, the company's racing arm, took on the 24 Hours of Le
Mans with a four-rotor Wankel in a Group C coupe.
With 700 shrieking horsepower, it became the first, and still the only,
Japanese car to win at the Sarthe. Just that quickly, the FIA banned
rotary engines from global sports car competition.
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Re: Mazda Ends Over 40 Years of Rotary Engine Production
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