Sales
Mazda was fully committed to the Wankel engine just as the energy crisis of the 1970s struck. The company had all but eliminated piston engines from its products in 1974, a decision that nearly led to the company's collapse. A switch to a three-prong approach (piston-gasoline, piston-Diesel, and Wankel) for the 1980s relegated the Wankel to sports car use (in the RX-7 and Cosmo), severely limiting production volume. But the company had continued production continually since the mid-1960s, and was the only maker of Wankel-powered cars when (the RX-8) was discontinued from production in August 2011.
Though not reflected in the graph at right, the RX-8 was a higher-volume car than its predecessors. Sales of the RX-8 peaked in 2004 at 23,690, but continued to decline through 2011, when less than 1000 were produced.
On November 16, 2011, Mazda CEO, Takashi Yamanouchi, announced that the company is still committed to producing the rotary engine, saying, "So long as I remain involved with this company... there will be a rotary engine offering or multiple offerings in the lineup."
Currently, the engine is produced for SCCA Formula Mazda, and its professional Indy Racing League LLC dba INDYCAR sanctioned Star Mazda Championship.
Read more about this topic: Mazda Wankel Engine
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