The Wankel rotary engine has a love-it-or-hate-it reputation amongst enthusiasts; the high-winding powerplant has a great reputation on the dragstrip, where it can make excellent power in a small, relatively-lightweight package. The sound it makes, on the other hand, is where the love and hate relationship exists. Some enthusiasts take to it like a fish to water, and others wonder how to outlaw them from the racetrack altogether.

But in passenger-car applications, the Wankel doesn’t have the best reputation, as fuel economy and other challenges — such as those posed by ever-tightening emissions regulations — exist that have prevented the the Wankel from sticking in the hearts and minds of regular car buyers. By the end of 2012, Mazda had pulled the engine platform from the market upon the death of the RX-8 sports car — or did they?

Reports out of the Frankfurt Motor Show say that Mazda President Masamichi Kogai validated that the company has a dedicated engineering team focused on rotary engine performance and development, even now, three years after the bow of the engine in production. According to the report from Autocar, the Mazda staff is working “very enthusiastically” to modernize the rotary’s design and performance to match today’s reciprocating piston engines.

One of the largest challenges to controlling emissions in the Wankel design has been the apex seal area, where the piston edge contacts the case wall. The Mazda engineers must gain control of this to have any hope of the platform remaining viable in the hands of consumers.

There are a number of advantages to the Wankel design, among them simplicity, size, high RPM capability, and a high power-to-weight ratio. But the main challenges – improving cold-start performance, reducing CO2 emissions, and the engine design’s relative lack of torque when compared with reciprocating-piston designs – have proven to be the sticking point thus far in the development process. Turbocharging has been employed in the past to reduce the torque issues, but that doesn’t do anything to endear the Wankel to the EPA’s testing processes.

There is no timeline for the return of the RX sports car in any form, but Kogai’s comments certainly open the door for a forthcoming halo car for the Japanese company; they are also exploring the concept of using the platform to work in conjunction with electrical propulsion in a hybrid scenario, like in their Demio EV, which uses a rotary range extender underneath the trunk space.

Regardless, there will be an enthusiast community Mazda could make very happy should they choose to re-deploy the Wankel as the main powerplant in any sort of sports car.