Mazda has a habit of unveiling rotary-powered sports car concepts without ever bringing any of them to production. The most recent is the stunning Iconic SP unveiled in 2023, and prior to that there were the RX-Vision in 2015 and Taiki in 2007. The cadence seems to be every eight years or so.
While Mazda officially says the concepts are meant to gather customer feedback, a senior company official notes that the very fact the automaker keeps unveiling them is a clear sign the desire to build a halo rotary sports car is still alive among employees – even as harsh financial realities and tightening regulations continue to make that dream difficult to justify.
Keeping The Rotary Dream Alive
In an interview with AutoExpress published this past weekend, Mazda’s product planning supervisor for Europe, Moritz Oswald, said it’s not just fans clamoring for a new halo sports car to sit above the MX-5 Miata, but also what he described as an “insane” number of car enthusiasts within the company. He added that enthusiasts still shape many of the decisions at Mazda, and if there’s a viable way to make a new halo sports car, it will happen.
Oswald said that a halo sports car is still being investigated but didn’t provide a timeline for when the green light might be given, let alone when production might finally start. Mazda is relatively small compared to its rivals, and with low sales of sports cars in general, justifying the development is tough. Even the widely acclaimed MX-5 Miata only managed 8,727 sales in the US last year, and it’s one of the most affordable sports cars available, with a starting price of just over $30,000 for the 2026 model year.
In the same interview, Mazda’s R&D chief for Europe, Christian Schultze, said price is one of the main factors holding back the halo sports car. He told AutoExpress that Mazda could deliver a credible sports car for $100,000, but hitting a price point more realistic for Mazda customers is much more difficult.
Mazda’s Rotary Engine Is Ready To Go, It Just Needs Customers
The Iconic SP only needs one more thing to reach production, and you can help.
How Close Are We To A New Rotary Sports Car?
Mazda’s last rotary-powered sports car was the four-door RX-8, which bowed out of production in 2012. Interestingly, the automaker’s concepts have been getting progressively more production-ready with each iteration. The Iconic SP looks like it could hit the showroom floor tomorrow, and Mazda design boss Masashi Nakayama said in 2024 that the concept was created with real intent to turn it into a production model in the not-so-distant future.
However, the challenging environment automakers face today means a new rotary-powered sports car is likely on the backburner. Mazda is focused on the models that generate the bulk of its revenue, i.e. its ever-popular SUVs. Even with EV adoption slowing in some markets, demand continues to grow, and in key regions like China and Europe, tightening emissions regulations make electrification non-negotiable.
All of that means Mazda will need to keep investing heavily in EV technology, leaving little room, financially or strategically, for the kind of niche halo sports car enthusiasts dream about. The rotary may still live on in concept form, or as a range extender for more practical cars, but in a sports car, it could be a long wait yet.
Sources: AutoExpress
