TOKYO MOTOR SHOW: Mazda CX-3 within two years
But born-again Mazda RX-7 rotary sports car not before 2016Mazda has announced it will introduce five new models by March 2016 and carsales.com.au has learned an all-new ‘CX-3’ compact SUV will be one of them.
The other four are understood to be replacements for the Mazda2, CX-9, MX-5 and one of three people-movers sold in Japan including the Mazda5.
That means a dedicated rotary coupe in the form of a born-again RX-7 or a belated replacement for the discontinued RX-8 is at least three years away.
Mazda’s mid-term business plan, dubbed the Structural Reform Plan, covers the 2015 and 2016 fiscal years ending March 2016 and follows the release of the first three all-SKYACTIV models – the CX-5 in 2012, the Mazda6 this year and the new Mazda3 next February.
A redesigned Mazda2 incorporating the company’s latest SKYACTIV platform, body and engine technologies is due to appear next – probably at the Geneva show next March. It will replace the seven-year-old Ford Fiesta-based Mazda2 launched in 2007.
The new 2 will be followed by a SKYACTIV-based CX-9 large SUV and a fourth-generation MX-5 roadster in 2015.
The new MX-5 will also underpin a new-generation Alfa Romeo Spider, but the first rear-wheel drive SKYACTIV chassis is also expected to form the basis of an all-new RX-7/8 successor, possibly badged as the RX-9.
Mazda revealed a larger-displacement ‘16X’ version of the RX-8’s 13B rotary engine as long ago as 2013 and has openly stated it continues to develop its trademark reciprocating engine using SKYACTIV engine technologies.
The 13B was also used as a generator/range-extender in the hydrogen-fuelled Premacy hybrid people-mover, which was a lease-only model in Japan.
Mazda has produced more than two million rotary engines since the first rotary-powered Mazda Cosmo went on sale in 1963.
But while the two-seat RX-7 coupe was discontinued in 2002 after 24 years, the last rotary-powered Mazda, the four-door RX-8, ceased production in 2012.
Asked if Mazda’s rotary engine would see duty in a future model other than in a range-extender application, Mazda Motor Corporation President and CEO Masamichi Kogai said: “It’s possible”.
Mazda’s rotary engine will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2017, while the RX-7 will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2018 – two years before Mazda’s centenary in 2020.
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