The Rotary engine was invented by the German engineer Felix Wankel, in the early 1960s. Mazda tried the hardest to make them work and, as David Brown reports, they have not given up.
Mazda has developed a vehicle platform on which it can produce hybrids and electric vehicles.
They plan to launch a fully electric vehicle next year.
But plug in hybrids are on the cards using rotary engines.
As a stand-alone power plant the rotary was powerful but not fuel efficient.
But it has some advantages for hybrid applications: it’s light, quiet and works especially well when running at a constant speed.
It can also easily run on various fuel types: petrol, LPG and even hydrogen.
THE timing to production of the rotary based hybrids is not clear; the priority at the moment is making the powertrain more space efficient.