According to a report from Autocar, Mazda is currently working on a successor to the old RX-7 and the current RX-8. (We’ve heard this before. Many times.) Believed to carry the RX-9 nameplate, the next-gen sports car is tipped to ditch the innovative but clumsy quasi-four-door layout of the current RX-8, and that the platform is to be spun off from the MX-5 roadster. But what you really want to know about is the engine.
Dubbed the 16X project, the new Renesis rotary engine is expected to grow in size considerably over the RX-8′s and pack around 300 horsepower – quite a bit more than the 232 hp we enjoy in the current car. Mazda is also said to be hard at work keeping the engine as clean and efficient as possible, as the current RX-8′s high fuel and oil consumption have driven it out of certain markets already.
The Japanese automaker could alternatively turn the RX-9 project strictly into a hydrogen halo vehicle, which might be nice if you happen to live near a hydrogen pipeline, less so for the rest of us.