Mazda has announced the first new car to get a rotary. Sort of.
https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a3...-return-mx-30/
The article imbeds a Mazda Promo Youtube video. I'll save you the time: NO rotary imagery appears in the waaaay-too-long promotional (Japanese) vid. At the 6:30-ish mark is the only visual of the drivetrain and what "might" be the rotary side-kick. Or Turbo, more likely.
New SUV will have an electric option with range-extender, a small on-board charger: a rotary.
Also: funky RX8 style suicide-rear-doors. Not the announcement we hoped for (as the R&T article readily admits).
Baby-steps, people :P

Stu A
80GS
AZ

 

Here, I'll save everyone the 21 minutes of stylized Japanese marketing...

Looks like a small rotary engine that powers a generator - right in front of that big 4-banger:

Oh, well...

 

Here's a more in depth video:

Screen grab of the single rotor, maybe being buried in the middle makes it appear small, but it looks 12A size:




Another neat detail is the use of cork inside, calling back to Mazda's roots as a cork manufacturer.

 

Great video. I'd love to hear some official info on the range extension, the RPM where it runs so cleanly etc.

 

the 2013 prototype sat sideways like in a lawn mower, had a single peripheral intake with single side exhaust, a 330cc rotor with 38hp with 2 spark plugs. Looks like they went back to upright configuration for the MX30 but single spark plug...

 

Nice, never seen that video before.
I have seen patent drawings with this in sideways configuration driving the generator by a belt.
I'm guessing the port above the intake is the oil metering inlet? I wondered how well the oiling would work sideways.

 

it looks like a compliance car cobbled together with a bunch of supplier's off the shelf stuff, and a rotary thrown in there. It's not encouraging for Mazda. There's no demonstrated demand for a short EV range + range extender vehicle. The market is not going that way. Longer EV range is what people want. If it had 300 miles range + a range extender (500 miles range or whatever), that would be great, but economically and in terms of packaging etc that's not possible right now.

 

I like the EV range of 125 miles + range extender, seems like a good sweet spot. My use case is mostly short drives and then there would be family Summer trips. I thought about the ID.4 with its 300 mile range and would I be able to visit friends here?




Not without a lot of hassle on VW's charging network, Electrify America. I would have to go West to go back East. I guess the argument then is to rent a car for long trips, that gets in the way of spontaneity and adds a lot of hassle.

 

my dad bought a 2019 Cx5, and its a nice car, but they really gave you what you actually use as far as power and as such its a great road trip car, but it is not very interesting...
it is averaging over 31mpg overall though which is really good for such a big SUV, mom has a Volvo something 60 (XC? CX? SVT?) and its the same size as the Mazda, but overall mileage is like 22

 

What was the Volt's electric range and extended range? How does it compare to the MX30?

 

volt was 40 miles EV. "unlimited" on gasoline.

 

I don't like CUVs -- they're uninspiring. A designer friend of mine said that the mark of a great design is the ability to throw a sheet over it and still be recognizable. This thing would fail that test miserably. But then, this seems to be where the world is going. Measured by that yardstick, maybe it'll do well . . .

BTW -- one of the issues with Range Extended EVs (RE-EVs) and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) is that they're used to get priority for vehicle registrations in countries like China. Once they get that coveted registration, many owners don't ever charge their vehicles -- they just use the internal combustion engine.