It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since Mazda lifted the lid on the iconic SP. Given the company’s track record of bringing exciting ideas to fruition, we’ve been cautiously optimistic ever since. After all, we’ve been burned before: remember 2015’s RX Vision? This rotary-powered, rear-wheel-drive coupe never materialized, and its spiritual successor may suffer the same fate.
Despite sending a strong signal about launching a new rotary sports car, Mazda isn’t so sure the RX is coming back. In an interview with AutocarChief Technology Officer Ryuichi Amishita acknowledged that there are hurdles in financing the Iconic SP project, saying “the only outstanding issue is financial.”
Still, we’re holding out hope. Since the concept broke ground at the Japan Mobility Show in October 2023, Mazda has reinstated its dedicated engineering team for rotary engines. We’ve already seen a taste of their work in the Vision X Coupe, whose two-rotor rotary engine is part of a plug-in hybrid setup that produces more than 500 horsepower.
Amishita admitted that the popular SP is his “dream car”, adding that he wants to “make it a reality” one day. Although the project has not been canceled, the financial constraints mentioned by Mazda’s CTO suggest that a production version is still a long way off. Even with approval, it will take time to bring such a car to market, especially since there won’t be an immediate predecessor to build.
Photo by: Mazda
It will be a new model built on a bespoke platform, probably unrelated to the smaller Miata. According to Amishita, Mazda has already said that any RX revival will be sold alongside the MX5 and serve as “a good successor to the RX7.” Although the concept’s rotary engine acted purely as a generator to charge the battery, the CTO hasn’t ruled out the possibility of a combustion engine directly driving the wheels.
As much as we’d love to see a new RX, we need to remember that Mazda is a relatively small company. It’s not an automotive juggernaut like Toyota, capable of balancing volume-oriented models with niche sports cars.
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Mazda’s lean asset strategy, announced earlier this year, calls for drastic cost-cutting measures in EV investments. While the first model is set to debut, a dedicated electric car platform is still planned for 2027. A proprietary hybrid setup will premiere later this year in the next-generation CX-5, while a new Skytec-Z combustion engine is also in the works.
We can guess that Mazda has bigger priorities for now, but Amishita is optimistic: “I would never say we gave up.” Whatever the case may be, at least we can take comfort in knowing that a new Miata has a bigger engine, manual gearbox, and possibly even lighter.
