"Without the rotor engine, there is no Mazda", I believe many people have heard this sentence, and many netizens joked that Mazda sells cars to make money in order to continue to study the rotor engine. This shows Mazda's dedication to rotor engines.
Recently, Mazda's rotor hybrid engine patent diagram was exposed, the system uses a three-rotor engine, and is a rear-wheel drive, will be integrated into Mazda's new rear-drive platform, so that the probability of mass production of this system is also greatly increased.
In fact, as early as the 1960s, Mazda began to study rotor engines. By 1971, Mazda introduced the RX-3 with a 1.1-liter twin-rotor engine, which ended the legendary sports car Nissan GT-R's winning streak in Japan.
The rotor engine has the advantages of light weight, high speed, high power, etc., and a small displacement can achieve very high horsepower, which makes the model equipped with the rotor engine a natural sports car.
However, the shortcomings of the rotor engine are also obvious, although the size is small, but the noise is extremely large, and the fuel consumption is high, the maintenance cost is high, the low-speed torque is small... These flaws make the RX series a niche model.
Eventually, due to small profit margins, sluggish sales, and tight funds, Mazda hid the rotor engine, and the RX-8 became the last model equipped with a rotor engine.
But Mazda didn't end its research on rotor engines. In 2015, Mazda's new concept sports car, the RX-Vision, was equipped with a rotor engine. Last year, at the MX-30 conference, Mazda's current CEO also personally announced that the rotor engine will be mounted on the MX-30 and revived in the form of a range extender.
Nowadays, patent information is exposed, the probability of Mazda rotor engine resurrection seems to be greater, rotor engine + rear drive + Mazda, these words combined together, it is difficult not to be excited.
It is understood that the MX-30 extended range version will be equipped with a single-rotor engine with a displacement of 0.333L, which will be used as a range extender, with a 20 kWh battery. The fuel tank volume is 8.7 liters, and filling up with fuel can increase the endurance by 200 kilometers, and the fuel consumption in the power deficit state is 4.3 liters per 100 kilometers.
Models with this system installed use electric drives to avoid the disadvantages of the engine at low speed, and the engine can be directly connected at high speed to retain driving pleasure.
However, the probability of the rotor engine being revived on the fuel vehicle is relatively small, in addition to the shortcomings mentioned above, due to the lack of low-rpm torque, many models equipped with rotor engines must start at high speed, otherwise it is easy to turn off.
And the rotor engine life is short, the maintenance requirements are extremely high, if not well maintained, two or three years or so to replace the engine, the cost of use is extremely high. If these problems cannot achieve technological breakthroughs, it is still difficult for rotor engines to become mainstream.