History of The Rotary Engine

The Wankel-engined Production History

Several production production cars used similar rotary power units, all of which are listed below. The fuel crisis of the mid-1970s made these thirsty units unattractive to consumers, and since then only Mazda has persisted in offering one. In 1991 its 787B racing car won the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race, the only Wankel rotary-engined car to do so.

1963-67 NSU Wankel Spider – 2375 built
1967-72 Mazda Cosmo Sport 110S – 1176 built
1967-77 NSU Ro80 – 37,406 built
1968-73 Mazda R100 – 95,891 built
1969-72 Mazda R130 Luce – 39,273 built
1970-71 Citroën M35 – 267 built
1970-78 Mazda RX-2 – 225,688 built
1971-78 Mazda RX-3 – 285,887 built
1972-77 Mazda RX-4 -0 213,988 built
1973-77 Mazda REPU – 16,272 built
(The world’s only rotary pick-up; sold in the USA only)
1974-75 Citroën GS Birotor – 847 built
1974-76 Mazda Parkway – 44 built
(The world’s only rotary minibus)
1975-77 Mazda Roadpacer AP – 800 built
1975-81 Mazda RX-5 Cosmo – 104,519 built
1977-81 Mazda 929L Legato – Production unknown
1978-84 Mazda RX-7 (SA/FB) – 570,500 built
1981-86 Mazda Luce/929 – Production unknown
1981-90 Mazda Cosmo – Production unknown
1985-92 Mazda RX-7 (FC) – 272,027 built
1986-91 Mazda Luce – Production unknown
1990-95 Mazda Eunos Cosmo – 8,875 built
1993-02 Mazda RX-7 (FD) – 68,589 built
2003-12 Mazda RX-8 – 193,094 built

We’ve really enjoyed piecing this one together here at Infernal Co and hope to succeed it with ‘The Future of Rotary Power’ when we finish gathering the information together. As always, keep your eyes peeled!