It’s official! Mazda has announced the rebirth of the rotary engine, though it won’t be the high-revving screamer you may remember from years gone by…

Mazda was the automaker that took the rotary engine mainstream, though this complex flavour of powertrain was effectively killed off when the RX-8 went out of production in 2012. Now, more than a decade later, the Japanese firm has announced the rotary engine will be “reborn for the electric age”.

But rather than directly powering the wheels, this fresh version of the Felix Wankel’s engine design will power an electric generator in a new MX-30 derivative set to go on sale in Europe.

“Faithful to its multi-solution approach to the global challenges of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Mazda will introduce a new powertrain option for its MX-30 at the Brussels Motor Show 2023,” Mazda said in a statement, which was accompanied by an image of a new rotary badge.

The RX-8 was the last Mazda to feature a rotary engine.

Described as a “unique plug-in hybrid powertrain”, this version of the MX-30 will feature an electric generator powered by a “newly developed” rotary engine. Mazda has released no other official details as yet, though we expect more information to be provided on 13 January, once the covers have come off in Brussels. In short, it seems the rotary will function as a range extender.

What led to the demise of the rotary engine and why wasn’t it embraced by other automakers (considering it tended to offer strong performance for its given displacement)? Well, the recurring problem was scratching on the inner surface of the engine casing caused by apex seals on the triangular rotor juddering (rather than sliding smoothly) against the inner casing.

Still, Mazda’s engineers believed they solved the problem with a special graphite-aluminium-alloy seal, which they said would also cure excessive oil consumption and a lack of low-down torque. However, after a production run of nearly 50 years (having debuted in the Cosmo Sport in 1967), the rotary was eventually put out to pasture in 2012.

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