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Internally called 16X, the next-generation Mazda rotary will again be a two-rotor setup, but this time displacing 1.6 liters instead of the current 1.3. Even in normally aspirated form, the 16X engine will make around 300 hp, which will be plenty for the smaller, lighter sports car in which it will be found. Turbocharged versions are possible, as is a hydrogen-powered variation. The U.S. market will keep getting the RX-8 for the foreseeable future, but we love the fact that a lighter car in the spirit of the last-generation RX-7 will replace it.
Audi is looking at the rotary engine, too, fitting a Wankel powerplant to the A1 e-tron concept shown in Geneva in March. The one-disc rotary engine was co-developed with Austrian engineering house AVL. We experienced its operation, and it’s smooth and quiet and avoids the shuddering on restart of a piston engine.
"Mazda Sticks with the Rotary Engine, While Audi Adopts It. Way cool!
