Mazda fans have long been hoping for a successor to the FD RX-7 rather than the seemingly inevitable and eventual continuation of the RX-8’s depressing mediocrity. Fueling this fire with new fervor is a concept car slated for debut at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show and in good promotional fashion a recently released teaser photo hints at what this new concept will look like ahead of its unveiling. Fingers crossed folks…fingers crossed.
Of the new concept, the Japanese automaker notes that it appears to “condense Mazda’s entire history of sports car development into a single model”. Sure, the shadowy picture certainly appears to show a car that’s larger than the MX-5 Miata, and its taillights could echo those of the third-generation RX-7. But that’s only speculation.
Or maybe it’s not.
Mazda’s own CEO seemed to indicate no work on a rotary-powered sports car was underway last year, but maybe things have changed, and just look at the concept! It’s long, low, and has the potential to be impossibly gorgeous. From our limited perspective, the mystery show car resembles the result of a tryst between the Maserati Alfieri and the Miata. But that’s not necessarily a surprise, as every vehicle Mazda’s designers have turned out in the past three years has been attractive.
What’s perhaps less obvious is that Mazda continues to work on the rotary engine, toiling away on the smooth-running, high-revving, pistonless powerplant design to make it return decent fuel economy and emissions. Have the company’s notoriously clever engineers finally figured out a way? Could this stunning concept car be the vessel to carry the rotary into the 21st century? Will we ever stop speculating about the RX-7’s resurrection? The answers to these questions may come as soon as the 2015 Tokyo show next month.
Although just a concept, Mazda has room for a sports car above the MX-5/Miata in its line-up. The company showed off the Koeru concept at the recent Frankfurt auto show, which could be the next CX-9 and shows Mazda’s current penchant for building production-intent concepts.
The Tokyo Motor Show runs from October 30 to November 8. The Mazda sports concept will be unveiled during the press preview day on October 28.
