Mazda RX-8 2008 News

It's the sort of odd-couple relationship that really shouldn't work ... but does. North America's eternal fascination with giant trucks and muscle machines continues

Built on the chassis of the 2005 Courage C65 American Le Mans car, Furai is propelled forward by a three-rotor Mazda 20B rotary engine developing 335kW, and is tuned to run 100 per cent ethanol fuel.While Furai is a snapshot of Mazda’s performance future, its present is represented this year with a new RX-8.The timeless sports coupe has not been dramatically altered since its release in 2003; nor will it be in the near future. This revised RX-8 is almost identical to the RS model from the Tokyo AutoSalon – which itself was almost identical to the original. It retains its rotary engine and mechanicals with only minor modifications to exhaust and suspension, the exterior and interior have been mildly tweaked, and it finally features a six-speed automatic with wheel-mounted paddle shifters.  

Alpine (pronounced Alpeen) was the name of the French manufacturer of racing and sports cars who used rear-mounted Renault engines, reminding car buyers of Renault's rallying and GP heritage.Renault Australia communications manager Craig Smith said he was excited by the prospect."I haven't seen anything official on Alpine but I'd imagine it would be attracting quite a lot of interest in the UK,” he said."Too early to say what, if anything, we'd do with it here.”The two-seater hatch goes on sale in Europe about 2010, targeting competitors such as the Mazda RX-8, Honda Type R, VW GTI and Nissan 350Z, but will cost less. It is expected that the car will be the forerunner of a series of models with the Alpine badge.Testing of the running gear is being carried out in a Megane body at Germany's famed Nurburgring race circuit.The new Alpine is expected to be powered by a small turbocharged petrol engine with every chance it will be mid-mounted.

Meanwhile, the midlife revision of the world's only mass-produced rotary engined car will be unveiled at the North American International Motor Show in Detroit alongside the Furai concept. While that revised RX-8 is not expected to reach Australia before June, enthusiasts need wait only until January for the strictly limited RX-8 rotary engine 40th anniversary edition. The limited run model anticipates the midlife revision by bringing a contemporary automatic transmission to the model. The alternate to the manual is now a six-speed automatic with paddle shifters adapted from the MX-5 — a significant step up from the current auto which has but four cogs and is significantly detuned. Mazda is the only marque to mass produce a rotary engine car. The 40th Anniversary model recognises an association with Felix Wankel's singular powerplant that dates from 1967's Cosmo Sport 110S. The RX-8's interior is designed to evoke that car and includes exclusive black leather and light silver alcantara combination seat covers. The exclusive body colours are Marble White or Metropolitan Grey with limited-edition side panel badges. Refinements include exclusive Bilstein dampers and a urethane foam-filled front suspension cross member, a sunroof, high gloss 18-inch alloy wheels, rear spoiler and blue reflector fog-lamps. Mazda showed a larger capacity, more powerful 16x rotary engine at the Tokyo show, which is likely to power its future cars, though not any that will appear in the next 12 months or so. Mazda is also working on a hydrogen rotary engine as part of its Sustainable Zoom Zoom program. While RX-8 afficiondos are jostling for the 40th Anniversary examples available here, the Furai concept will be the high-flying Hiroshima manufacturer's star turn at Detroit. Most concepts sit on a stand being evocative or, at best, putter around a carpark with minders looming menacingly, but the Furai is race-ready. Built on a Courage Le Mans chassis, it has a 335kW three-rotor engine and goes, according to a Mazda spokesman "like the proverbial". Though the translation of its name — "sound of wind" — will no doubt cause guffawing, it is the fifth of the Nagare ("Flow") family on concepts named for the elements. Mazda have released a teaser picture which hints at the sort of design departures featured byrecent Nagare concepts. There are apparently more Mazdas and Mazda-powered cars road-raced in the US than any other brand, so the Furai has been built on the chassis of an American Le Mans Series racer, the Courage C65 which campaigned in the ALMS series only two seasons ago. "Furai purposely blurs boundaries that have traditionally distinguished street cars from track cars," says Franz von Holzhausen, Mazda's North American director of design. "Historically, there has been a gap between single-purpose racecars and street-legal models commonly called supercars that emulate the real racers on the road. Furai bridges that gap like no car has ever done before." Mazda are riding high in Australia, having eclipsed their best-ever full year's result in October. As of November 30, 71,292 Mazdas had sold here in 2007, making the marque easily the nation's favourite fully-imported brand. With the release of the new CX-9 seven-seat SUV last week to positive reviews, Mazda continue their run with a range of vehicles that qualitatively sit at the top of their various segments. Apart form the dual RX-8 releases, the second generation Mazda6 get here in in late February. Driven by Carsguide in France last month, the new model is class leading, improving on its forebear in every respect. Later in the year, expect a facelift of the Mazda3 and a three-door version of the Mazda2. Mazda design chief Laurens van der Acker has said that the new Mazda3 will be ... "more eye-catching than the current model".

The re-birth of one of Mazda's popular sports cars, the legendary RX-7, might be just over the horizon. There has been speculation about the revival of the rear-wheel-drive, rotary coupe that ended li

Carmakers there are working on internal-combustion engines that run on the eco-friendly gas and Mazda, which is highlighting its latest work at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show.