"In the near future": Mazda's performance car revival could be coming soon with mega RX to give brand a rotary-powered boost to take on Toyota's GR Supra

Mazda's long-awaited performance revival could arrive "in the near future", with the brand's US chief hopeful a rotary-powered RX model based on the stunning SP Concept is just around the corner.

That's the word from David Hodges, chairman of the Mazda Dealer Advisory Council in the USA, who told Automotive News that he was hopeful we'd see a production version of the SP Concept in the near future.

The SP Concept, revealed at the 2023 Tokyo Mobility Show, is range-extender performance car that borrows Mazda's long-dormant rotary engine technology to feed a battery, which also captures kinetic energy to recharge. Driving power is supplied via an electric motor.

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In all, the SP Concept produces 272kW, delivers 50:50 weight distribution, and weighs just 1450kg.

"Hopefully we'll get a look at something in the near future that would fall somewhere under that RX umbrella," Hodges told Automotive News.

"I don't know what they would call it or how they would do it, but it certainly was well-received in Japan."

It's a thought echoed by Mazda's biggest bosses, with the brand's global CEO, Katsuhiro Moro, saying an engine development group was already working on the project to move "move closer to this dream".

"In order to make breakthroughs in the challenges of the carbon-neutral era, we will use a wide range of technical resources that go beyond the book on engine methods, cutting-edge internal combustion technology, and train ourselves to use Mazda's specialty model-based development," he said.

"The technical challenges we must overcome are not so easy, but I hope we can take a step towards a new chapter."

That chapter might not include petrol, though, with the Mazda saying a the rotary in the Iconic SP "can burn various fuels such as hydrogen" or other carbon-neutral fuels, and is "highly scalable".