TOKYO – Mazda confirmed that its trademark rotary engine will return this fiscal year in a plug-in hybrid version of the MX-30 subcompact crossover bound for the U.S.
The rollout makes good on a promise long in the making to resurrect the blade-twirling power plant after retiring the technology with the discontinued RX-8 sports car in 2012.
Talk of deploying an updated rotary in the MX-30 has swirled since the vehicle debuted at the 2019 Tokyo Motor Show. Mazda Motor Corp. toyed with using it in a range-extender that would have gone on sale in the first half of the fiscal year started April 1.
But Mazda opted for a plug-in variant. That allows it to further reduce the size and cost of the battery, compared with a range extender. But the engine would operate more frequently.
The rotary plug-in version of the MX-30 will debut in the second half of the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2023. It will be introduced in the U.S. and Japan in sequence, a spokesman said.
