Grown

While we wait for the rotary-engined sports car to surface, this render shows off the RX-9 in one of its most realistic renders yet.

Ever since the Mazda RX-8 finished production in 2012, fans have been asking for a follow-up to the rotary sports car. The RX-8 may have lived in the shadow of the mythical RX-7, but it didn’t stop the public’s hunger for another rotary performance car.

3 years after the last RX-8 rolled off the line Mazda teased the automotive world with the RX-Vision concept. Immediately the Vision got touted as a preview of the RX-9, or at the very least, confirmation that Mazda was designing a new rotary sports car, a successor to the RX-8; the RX-9.

There are many renders out there that hope to preview the Mazda RX-9’s design, and this new render model, courtesy of HotCars artist Rostislav Prokop looks like the most realistic yet.

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Mazda referred to the RX-Vision as embodying “KODO -Soul of Motion-”, and the concept got designed to be the most beautiful FR sports car the brand could conceive of. Whether or not it succeeded, the Vision’s silhouette was definitely that of a pure, archetypal sports coupe.

This new render model takes that concept as a base and modifies the extremely-low-slung proportions to make the RX-9 look more production-ready. With a shorter body and higher roof, it becomes a big, grown-up version of the MX-5, in Mazda’s iconic scarlet color (or a good approximation of it).

The grille and headlights get inspired by the concept, but the shape and size of the grille and lights are more closely related to the brand’s current models, such as the Mazda 3. There are front auxiliary lights in the bumper which don’t appear on the concept.

Whereas the RX-Vision featured circular rear lights, this render uses an LED light bar which finishes in the same ‘U’ loop as the Miata’s lights.

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Stand-out features include the air ducts behind the front wheels which extend rearward into the doors. This is something which adds muscle to the RX-Vision’s basic design, which was smoother all-round. The rear lights, ducktail spoiler and center exhaust add a little drama to the RX-Vision concept’s shape.

Mazda released very little information when the concept got revealed in 2015. They did say that the concept was rear-wheel-drive, and came with a new rotary engine based on their SKYACTIV engines, called SKYACTIV-R. With a 2.6-liter four-rotor Wankel engine, it is double the displacement of the RX-8’s 1.3-liter, two-rotor motor. That engine peaked at around 232 hp. As the SKYACTIV-R utilizes modern technology to reduce emissions and increase output, we can assume that a four-rotor RX-9 would make more than 464 hp - a turbocharger or hybrid pack could boost power to 500 hp and beyond. A hybrid is extremely likely.

Mazda has not confirmed the existence of an upcoming RX-9, there are many rumors out there, almost all of them unsubstantiated. A hybrid sports car that could take over as the brand’s flagship from the exclusively gas-powered MX-5 is entirely feasible.

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Hailing from Britain, the home of both MG and Aston Martin, Dave is no stranger to sports cars. Or a little rain. When he's not busy working his day-job or writing songs and pretending to be a musician; Dave indulges his obsession with cars by writing and researching diligently, so that he can inform and convert other people to the dark side.