Mazda RX-7 reportedly returning in 2017

2017 will be an important year for Mazda‘s rotary engine, as it will mark 50 years since the revolutionary motor’s debut in the 1967 Cosmo Sport. However, our mates at Australia’s aptly named The Motor Report are, well, reporting that 2017 is also the year the famed Mazda RX-7 makes its return. 

TMR spoke with Mazda’s sports car program manager and former RX-7 powertrain chief Nobuhiro Yamamoto at the Australian launch of the facelifted MX-5. Yamamoto implied that the likely engine will be the 1.6X (1.6 liters to the 13B’s 1.3), which produces 295 horsepower in naturally aspirated form and will not be a hybrid of any sort.

Mazda will employ extensively its philosophy of lightness with aluminum body panels and a target weight closer to current featherweight king Scion FR-S. TMR further reports that it will share a platform with the next-generation MX-5, albeit with a longer wheelbase to maintain the tradition of having two small jump seats in the rear domestically (though international markets will receive it as a two-seat sports car).

Suddenly, 2017 can’t come fast enough! For more, see the article at The Motor Report.

Images courtesy of Mazda.

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30 Responses to Mazda RX-7 reportedly returning in 2017

  1. cesariojpn says:

    I call shenanigans until we see the test mule at Laguna Seca.

  2. Jozey Hall says:

    Isn’t the world gonna end at the end of this year though?
    Serious question time~ Do you recon the first gen rx-7’s will start costing a bit more by that time?
    I have an ’84 gsl-se and i got it for only $1800 in mint condition a few months ago and i’ll never sell it 🙂

    • cesariojpn says:

      Haven’t seen the AE86 go up in price due to the FR-S……

    • Ben says:

      AE86 prices have been climbing steadily regardless.

      • Jozey Hall says:

        Exactly my thoughts, rx-7’s are all over the place in terms of value. I guess i got mine cheap since there’s similar ones on ebay for ~$5000 but i know a few people that have sold theirs in good condition for only ~$1000.

        • cesariojpn says:

          Still, there is no correlation for the rise in prices of older cars when a new car model comes out. Otherwise, Ford Mustangs would be going up in value for every new generation!!

        • tim says:

          wow rx7′s that cheap there ? here in nz there gold, any rx is worth big money here . similar prices to new late model cars. 20000 . but we do have more of a rotary culture here than other country’s

  3. Tj says:

    Interesting…

    It would appear that Mazda, who all but shelved the Rotary program saw Toyota/Subaru’s success with the GT86/BRZ and the sudden re-ignition of interest in small light RWD hardtop sports cars and decided to get in on the action (wisely recognising the MX5 as a different kind of car)

    It makes me hopeful that other japanese car makers (I’m lookin’ at you Nissan) get on board with cheap, capable RWD cars in the near future.

    • pstar says:

      No. Just no. There have been rumors for YEARS of Mazda secretly working on a new rotary engine, and rumors also of a new RX7 being on the horizon. The 370Z is amore accurate car model to compare themelves to than a RWD subaru anyway.

      As for “sudden reignition”. LOL. Just no, pal. You think there wasn’t a huge following last year, or the year before that? It took a bunch of Scion/fatlace trend following losers to make it hot? Again, LOL.

  4. Nigel says:

    Right now we can choose between Toyota and Subaru (also Hyundai) but having Mazda
    and ( one day maybe) Nissan in there would be very cool.

  5. DerrickS says:

    Oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please oh please!!!!!!!!!!!

  6. Tim says:

    Nissan really needs to bring back the S chassis!

  7. Tom B says:

    Timing makes perfect sense. By 2017, the enthusiasm for the FR-S will have faded and the market will be looking for the next great sports car.

    Hopefully, Toyota responds to this car by making the FR-S faster and or cheaper, rather than slower and more expensive (which is what happened to the Celica).

  8. jkwade says:

    Please be true.

  9. Tyler says:

    Can’t wait to see someone rally one in about 2023!!!

  10. Victor says:

    Time to start saving my pennies

  11. john says:

    I hate waiting… 🙂

  12. Mazdax605 says:

    That yellow SA on the assembly line looks like it could be my exact car. I will never know for sure, but I would like to think it is.

  13. Ryan says:

    JOY! Ive been waiting along time for this news! happy days 🙂 🙂

  14. James says:

    I just hope the body doesn’t look like a reformed Rx8 but keeping true and sleek to the past gens, Got my downpayment ready. (been waiting paitiently)

  15. pstar says:

    OMFG Mazda starts setting a timeframe!!!!! If I EVER, ever, buy a new car, this would be it. Make it gorgeous, Mazda, and I will.

    Full disclosure: I have said and commited to only ever buying a brand new car if it is an RX7, and if it is gorgeous.

  16. pstar says:

    No hybrid, + lighter than an FD + more powerful, naturally aspirated. I’ll be in my bunk. Sweet God.

  17. tim says:

    wow rx7’s that cheap there ? here in nz there gold, any rx is worth big money here . similar prices to new late model cars. 20000 . but we do have more of a rotary culture here than other country’s.

  18. Skyline7937Japan says:

    Shit! loving the idea..

  19. james says:

    If that is true, then I’ll be 32. Been a fan of the engine since the age of 7.

  20. james says:

    I’d better start saving up some cash for if its true that’ll be my first new car. I only worry about the exterior for I’d like to see more SA/FB in the design language. I know many people seem to gravitate towards the FD’s design which I love and respect, but the SA/FB’s design really was in a league of its own.

  21. cookboy says:

    What a fine 60th birthday present to myself!

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