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We’ve been hearing about it for nearly a year now but the rumours are still persistent and the latest gossips are yet again saying the same thing; the RX-8 is about to phased out to make way for the revival of the RX-7. The relatively more expensive and slow-selling RX-8 never really went down well with Mazda fans and the bosses at the Japanese car-maker realise this and that’s exactly what the next generation RX-7 is looking at rectifying.

According to Japan based Mak Tokuyama who writes for Inside Line, the next RX-7 will use Mazda’s new-generation Renesis 16X rotary engine which debuted at the 2007 Tokyo Auto Show in the Taiki concept. This 1,600cc, two-rotor Wankel engine has a 800cc x 2 configuration versus the 654cc x 2 configuration in the current RX-8. The upshot of the extra displacement should be better performance, as the 16X is said to be capable of up to 350 horsepower
and 215 pound-feet of torque versus the RX-8’s paltry 232 hp and 159 lb-ft.

There have also been reports that Mazda could just take advantage of such power potential and build a more formidable 300hp RX-8 with styling cues from the Mazda Furai concept. But sources close to Mazda are suggesting that the company is more interested in creating a car that evokes the character of the original RX-7. And if that does happen, power is expected to be in the 200-250 range and the pricetag will be about US25,000.

Personally, I’m more in favour of a revival of the legendary RX-7 and with the current economic conditions, a low-priced sports car seems to be the way to go. But rotaries have been known to guzzle fuel, so to fix this, Mazda is currently working on engine weight reduction and lowering fuel consumption of the Wankel engine. If the rumours are true, expect Mazda to introduce the new RX-7 as a 2011 or a 2012 model and expect the RX-7 to revolutionize the small car segment which includes the Hyundai Genesis coupe
and the Toyota FT-86.