January 2016|TOPCAR.CO.ZA 9Manual and RWD
No NSX-style fancy
all-wh eel driv e, just
driv en rear wheels and
a manual’box, thou gh
Mazda acknowledges
buyers may demanda
nice and easy DCTNew RX-7:
Mazda’s rotary
renaissance
Standout beautiful and po wered by a next-gener ation
rotary, the RX-Vision is the future
Mazda is hell-bent on making real
B
ASED ONITSshowings at the recent
Tokyo motor show, Honda – rightly or
wrongly – is convinced the future is fuel-cell
powered. Over at Ni ssan, Carlos Ghosn is on
a path to autonomous electric mobility vi a
cash-rich funky crossovers. In stark contrast
Mazda has gazed at 2018 and seen this: an analogue
sports car notable for all that it lacks (a hybrid powertrain,
autonomous tech, a neon-lit, tablet-stuffed ‘lounge’
interior) as the things that it has: fossil-fuelled rotary
engine, rear-whe el drive, a manual gearbox and a
striking, unfussy beauty.
‘This car is the embodiment of Mazda’s future
vision: the ultimate front-engined, rear-whe el-
drive sports car,’ said CEO Masamichi Kogai as
he pulled the covers from the RX-Vision and the
world bit its collective fist in lust. ‘It is driving
pleasure with exce llent environmental
performance. The ro tary engine has not beenan
easy path but one day the ro tary will make
a comeback. There are many issues to overcome
but we won’t stop working.’
Mazda insists RX-Vision is a concept car in the
truest sense, and that a production-ready RX-
does not lurk in the wings. ‘I can tell you that a
production car does not exist: this is a pure
design concept,’ says veteran Mazda designer Ikuo
Maeda, whose team create d RX-Vision’ s endless bonnet,
fuss-f ree surfaces and restra ined, almost classical
detailing. ‘This is a pure design exercise, though I hope
this is a car with which we can go head-to-head with
Porsch e. It is our aspira tion totake our brand to the next