Mazda Working On Triple-Rotor RWD Sports Car

TheMazda MX-30appears to be as close as we're going to get to seeing rotary technology on the road again, but having such a motor exist only as a range extender is not what any fans of the unique engine want. Wefell in love with rotary enginesfor the way they sound and the way they rev, and themore rotorsthere are, the more aggressive such sounds become. Now, we hate toget your hopes upagain, but there appears to be reason to be quietly optimistic about the possibility of a rotary engine returning, thanks to patents filed with the European Patent Office.

The patent filings appear to be part of a series that, when combined, seem to make up the designs for a front-engine, rear-drive sports car that uses 48-volt hybrid technology and even features a transaxle gearbox. Most interestingly and excitingly, the patent drawings seem to suggest that the engine would be a triple-rotor, a setup that was only available to the public in the Eunos Cosmo. The bigger four-rotor engine gained international glory in the 787B prototype thatwon Le Mans in 1991. If these patent filings are for a single car and this car does make it to market, it would have to do so very soon.