For fans of Japanese engines or just internal combustion engines in general, the topic of the Wankel rotary engine is about as complicated and highly debated as politics and tire compound preferences.

Love, hate, avoid, or laugh at them all you want, but rotary motors have been predestined to make a comeback for damn well over a decade at this point. And now there is proof that Mazda is indeed bringing back “the old apex seal eater.”

But before you go out and invest all of your savings in apex seal stock, it would be wise to review a few facts and caveats pertaining to this long-overdue announcement.

For as our editorial team here at EngineLabs accurately predicted, news that a new Wankel wonder was indeed on its way, only meant that there was a catch in there somewhere.

One Big Letdown

As this overview video from Engineering Explained clearly illustrates, this forthcoming rotary engine will be a slug of a motor.

Mazda unveiled the rotary-equipped Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV at the Brussels Motor Show on January 13th, 2023. News that for the most part received very little fanfare, and for good reason.

Packing just a single rotor that revs to half the tune of the last rotary motor found in the defunct Mazda RX-8, this new “e-Skyactiv R-EV” appears to be about as pedestrian as it gets. With just 0.83 liter of displacement, this revised rotary engine generates a laughably low 86 pounds of twist, and no more than 74 horsepower. It’s also a full 856 pounds heavier than the old 1.3-liter RX-8 RENESIS motor, and as of this moment will be offered in a crossover that’s being marketed to European consumers.

Oh but wait, there’s more…

This minuscule motor isn’t even intended for performance. Apparently, this is Mazda’s long overdue answer to the gaping hybrid hole in its product lineup. To quote Mazda directly, “This new rotary engine has been adapted to meet the needs of our times and is now being used to generate power rather than as a drive unit.”

The new “e-Skyactiv R-EV” is engineered to be used as a range extender, and little else. A glorified generator for recharging batteries and providing additional oomph to a primary electric powerplant via an inverter. Yawn…

Increased Performance Potential! Well, Sorta…

While the aforementioned facts are, indeed, quite a disappointment, there is still some hope for Mazda’s most recent rotary.

First off is the fact that Mazda has found a way to outperform its hybridized competitors in the power and weight range extender departments. It will be interesting to see if this eventually becomes utilized as an additional power booster, and not just a range extender.

Speaking of power, Mazda has also filed for a patent that will allow the use of an electric assist motor that links directly to the rotor itself. The goal here is to control rotation speed to better calibrate intake airflow timing for optimum combustion. Just yet another issue that has long plagued Wankel rotary motor designs.

As a secondary solution to the air intake and RPM conundrum, Mazda filed a second patent, this time for a generator-powered boost-assist system. This method provides a pop of resistance to the engine, thus forcing the rotor to fight for a brief moment, only to overcome the brief hold. The result? A sudden over-spin of rotation, which drastically shortens the span of the intake being opened.

While the 13B Renesis engine used on the RX-8 was a 654 cm³ two-rotor engine, the MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV uses an 830 cm³ single rotor format for the rotary engine generator. — Mazda Motor Europe (MME)

As with most modern motors, direct injection is now a thing on the e-Skyactiv R-E. So bring on the efficient combustion cycling during rotor revolutions, because we’re sick of sending it straight out our tailpipes. There’s also an EGR recirculation system that is being implemented for efficiency purposes, which apparently will simultaneously cut down on the heat loss issues found within previous designs.

But perhaps the biggest improvement is to the apex seals that will be used, which as we all know, has long been the Achilles heel for the rotary engine. Measuring a full 2.5mm wider than the old design, these seals are about 25-percent beefier than their outgoing variants. Mazda also claims that it has “…changed the plating on the trochoid surface inside the housing to reduce wear and frictional resistance.”

Mazda’s news blast about the return of the Wankel rotary motor was indeed legitimate. As were the U.S. patents for the e-Skyactiv R-EV rotary engine designs that were filed around the same time.

So Where’s My Rotary Race Engine?

If you have been praying for a fresh performance rotary motor to emerge, then this is not the news you have been waiting for all these years. It’s definitely some nifty engineering, but a far cry from what we would consider “the triumphant return of the rotary engine.”

Furthermore, Mazda’s European division has not released any details regarding when this new motor will be available to the masses. All we know is that the press release came straight from the European arm of Mazda, and so it’s safe to say that America will have to wait in line for its chance to get its hands on this heavily revised rotary motor. And even then, will anyone really care?

For Mazda rotary engine enthusiasts, this lackluster news blast has surely left them with more questions than answers.

Will this clever, yet completely unexciting single-rotor configuration culminate into a more advanced high-performance motor down the line? Only time will tell. But at least Mazda has found some solutions to a few of the problems that made owning a Wankel rotor-driven motor such a pain to possess.