New-age MX-5 to be a rotary EV

Concept lays out bold future for Mazda's beloved roadster

- MARK TISSHAW

Mazda has revealed a radical vision of the MX-5's future, wowing the Tokyo motor show with a sleek, rotary-electric sports car concept called the Iconic SP.

The concept - previewed digitally a few months ago and presented as the centrepiece of a celebration of the MX-5 on Mazda's show stand - uses a power train developed from that of the new MX-30 R-EV range-extender crossover.

The Iconic SP uses a twin rotor rotary petrol engine (the MX-30's is a single-rotor) as a generator to charge a battery on the move, rather than as an alternative means of driving the wheels itself.

Mazda claims the Iconic SP has 370bhp at its disposal around double the output of today's most powerful MX-5.

Tipping the scales at 1450kg (roughly on a par with the four-cylinder Lotus Emira, which makes 360bhp), the new concept should be significantly faster than any road-going Mazda so far.

Mazda said a rotary REx power train makes sense for an electric sports car because it can be configured in various layouts for optimum weight distribution and packaging.

Here, for example, the tightly packaged petrol engine is housed in the middle of the car, which promotes a low centre of gravity while allowing for a long, probing front bonnet and cab-rear silhouette.

The two-seat concept is 4180mm long, 1850mm wide and 1150mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2590mm. That makes it closer in size to the Alpine A110 than the MX-5.