At the Japan Mobility Show two years ago, Mazda unveiled a drop-dead gorgeous concept car called the Iconic SP, and in its press spiel, it mentioned a rotary engine. That initially got the world’s media excited until they heard that the rotary engine would not actually power the rear wheels, but would in stead only be used as a generator to charge the battery for its electric powertrain.
The 2025 Mazda Vision X-Coupe (it’s actually a 4-door sedan), revealed last month at the same Japan Mobility Show, rights that wrong with a totally new powertrain in which the rotary engine drives the rear wheels.
This 2023 ‘rotary=generator’ effort with the Iconic SP showed us that pressure to create a cleaner, fuel efficient rotary-powered sports car had forced Mazda to suggest a coupe like the Iconic SP. Similar to the approach on the road-going MX-30 SUV, which uses its rotary engine as a range-extender generator to charge its battery which power the car’s electric motors, the Iconic SP also employed its rotary engine as a generator to power the electric motors for a claimed output of 380-hp.
Mazda fans want a rotary engine to drive the rear wheels
In the halls of that 2023 Mobility Show, you could hear the boos from the assembled media. One Italian colleague went so far as to say that, “relegating a rotary engine to generator status was like taking away the soul from Mazda.”
From the first-ever rotary-powered Cosmo Sport launched in 1967, through the venerable RX-7 that debuted 1978, followed by successive generations in 1985 and 1991, and finally to the RX-8 launched in 2003, rotary engine-powered sportscars have been the soul of Mazda and have generated a huge global following. Indeed, a bespoke 4-rotor rotary engine powered the famed Mazda 787B race car to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1991, making it the first Japanese car to do so.
Fast forward to 2025. Mazda has reassessed its rotary engine, which used to be plagued by poor efficiency and excessive oil consumption, and rekindled its soul to create the all-new Vision X-Coupe, a concept powered by the most advanced powertrain ever conceived by Mazda—using a power unit that employs a rotary engine that drives the rear wheels.
Details were scarce at the Japan Mobility Show, but we did get some strategic features. The 4-door Vision X-Coupe might not be as soothing to the optic nerve as the Iconic SP was, but it does employ beautifully penned lines and pleasing proportions—that did make it one of the best looking cars at the show. Oh, and it also pumps out an impressive 503 horsepower. That’s thanks to a turbocharged rotary engine with twin-rotors – paired with an electric motor and a battery. Mazda has revealed range, but has left out all powertrain details, including engine size, motor power, battery size, positioning, torque, 0-60 mph, and top speed.
By using the electricity from the battery to power the electric motor, the less than 100 miles using only the battery’s juice to power the electric motor. The maximum range is claimed as just under 500 miles when using the motor/battery and that turbocharged rotary engine with twin rotors (yay!). And to highlight its environmentally friendly features, interestingly, Mazda says the concept reduces atmospheric CO2 the more it is driven. This is achieved by – as Mazda says – “combining carbon-neutral fuel derived from microalgae with Mazda’s proprietary CO2 capture technology.”
Mazda’s CEO Masahiro Moro, who unveiled the X-Coupe, said, “We remain committed to fulfilling the desire of those who love cars and wish to continue driving as long as possible.”
By styling it as half-coupe, half-sedan, Mazda is appealing to the biggest possible cross-section of motorists, and if the brand can bring this car to market for under $60,000, then it would vie with cars like the 510-hp Tesla Model 3 Performance which starts at around $56,000.