Not shaky at all
When you think of sporty Mazdas, you quickly think of cars like the RX-7 and RX-8 with their stubborn rotary engines. Since the disappearance of the RX-8, Mazda has not had a production model with a rotary engine in production. Until now! After 11 years, Mazda produces another model with this stubborn piece of engine technology.
Mazda is proud to announce that it has started the production line of the Mazda MX-30 e-SkyActiv R-EV at its Ujina plant in Hiroshima, Japan. The Mazda MX-30 was only available in the Netherlands with a fully electric powertrain for a long time and existed elsewhere in the world with a mild-hybrid powertrain. The Mazda MX-30 is now also available with a second powertrain in Europe and in the Netherlands. That’s a special one.
The first Mazda with a rotary engine alongside the last: the Cosmo and the RX-8.
The Mazda MX-30 e-SkyActiv R-EV is electrically powered just like the regular MX-30, but it has a rotary engine on board that acts as range extender functions. This makes the MX-30 e-SkyActiv R-EV the first production Mazda with a rotary engine since 2012.
Of course it was already known that the MX-30 e-SkyActiv R-EV was coming. In fact, the Dutch importer already announced what the prices are in January this year. The start of production marks a special moment in Mazda’s history. Their last model with a rotary engine was the RX-8 and it went out of production exactly 11 years ago this month.
In 1965, Mazda installed a rotary engine in the first Cosmo for the first time. The coupé of the first generation Familia also came on the market in the late 1960s as an R100 with a rotary engine. More Mazdas with this special type of combustion engine were the RX-3 from the 1970s, the Luce (R130), the RX-2, RX-4, the later Cosmos and of course the different generations of the RX-7 and the RX-8. Mazda even put a rotary engine in a Parkway bus and a Holden Premier-based Roadpacer. The second generation of Mazda’s B-series pickup was also available with a rotary engine. In total, Mazda says it has built nearly 2 million cars with a rotary engine.
MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV
The MX-30 is effectively a plug-in hybrid. It has a battery pack that, at 17.8 kWh, has a considerably smaller capacity than the one in the regular MX-30. That battery is good for an electric range of 85 kilometers. The rotary engine, which functions as a range extender and can provide extra power when needed, has a capacity of 830 cc and delivers 74 hp at 4,700 rpm. The electric motor in the MX-30 e-SkyActiv R-EV delivers 170 hp, making it more powerful than the 145 hp model in the regular MX-30.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl