It feels like Mazda is perpetually stuck in a cycle of showing off stunning concepts to the world, suggesting they might come to production one day, and then not putting said concepts into production. It started back in 2018 with the original Vision Coupe concept, before the company revealed the even prettier RX-Vision, powered by a rotary engine, in 2020. Then, in 2023, Mazda revealed the Iconic SP concept, another stunning, rotary-powered coupe.
Now, the company’s done it again. Mazda describes the Vision X-Coupe, revealed today at the Tokyo Mobility Show, as a “crossover coupe,” though it looks more like a four-door fastback to me. The proportions are just about perfect, measuring in at 198 inches long and 58 inches tall (or about as long and tall as a Chrysler 300). And like the last two Vision concepts I mentioned, it gets rotary power.
Two rotaries and a turbocharger, to be specific. The Vision X-Coupe uses a plug-in hybrid powertrain, though Mazda doesn’t say whether the combustion engine is connected to the wheels, or it’s simply used as a generator for the battery and electric motor onboard. Total output, Mazda says, is 503 horsepower. The X-Coupe can go 99 miles on battery power alone, or up to 497 miles when the twin-rotary engine is kicked on.
Mazda claims the Vision X-Coupe runs on carbon-neutral fuel using the company’s “proprietary CO2 capture technology,” which comes from microalgae. According to the automaker, these algae capture CO2 and store oil in their cells. Mazda extracts that oil and turns it into usable fuel. The result is a car that “contributes to reducing atmospheric CO2 the more it is driven,” says the brand.
Though Mazda says nothing of the X-Coupe’s four-seat interior, I see some interesting details. Most importantly, there are three big analog gauges, with a rev-counter in the middle for the twin-rotary engine—something you don’t really expect to see in a plug-in hybrid crossover. There’s also a real shift lever in the center console, which is nice. The rest of the dash seems to be a big, flat display that extends into the passenger area.
The Vision X-Coupe isn’t the only new concept Mazda brought to the Tokyo Mobility Show. There’s also the Vision X-Compact. It’s a tiny hatchback design study that measures just 150 inches long and 70 inches wide, making it far smaller than the current Mazda3 hatchback you’ll see in dealerships today (it has nearly the same proportions as the last Fiesta Ford sold in America).
While the X-Compact carries a similar fascia to the X-Coupe, Mazda says nothing of what might be powering the cute hatchback, but the company does harp on its ability to talk to you like a real person:
The MAZDA VISION X-COMPACT is a model designed to deepen the bond between people and cars through the fusion of a human sensory digital model and empathetic AI. Acting like a close companion, it is capable of engaging in natural conversation and suggesting destinations, helping expand the driver’s world. This represents Mazda’s vision for the future of smart mobility, where vehicles and people form an emotional connection, much like a friend.
The X-Compact’s interior is similarly bare, save for a real gear selector, a circular digital gauge cluster, and what looks to be a mount for a phone.
Like all of its other concepts from the past seven years, Mazda says these cars represent the company’s vision for the future, which means you should expect to see elements from each design incorporated into upcoming production vehicles.
To me, bringing back the rotary for a real-deal sporty car always seemed like a pie-in-the-sky idea, as much as I truly want it to happen. Mazda made some good on its promise with the introduction of the rotary range extender in the MX-30 back in 2022, but aside from the launch of a specific department to develop rotary engines, it’s been crickets from the brand since. Let’s hope the second half of the decade is different, and not just more concepts.
Top graphic image: Sam Abuelsamid
Isn’t fuel from micro algae biodiesel? Did they finally figure out how to get rotary compression ratios up high enough for a practical diesel rotary? Oh wait, Mazda rotary sports car… It’s all fantasy. Nvm.
Rotary owner/daily driver here. I have a series of forums and blogs I look at over coffee each morning. One of them, naturally, being a rotary focused one. Mazda trotting out rotary concepts and not delivering is so predictable that there’s not a single mention of this concept over there. I’m certain several dozen people saw it. I’m equally certain every single one of them yawned, and put it in the category of flying cars and warp drives. Nahgunna happen. Would love it if it would. Just not getting my hopes up.
“Mazda claims the Vision X-Coupe runs on carbon-neutral fuel using the company’s “proprietary CO2 capture technology,” which comes from microalgae. According to the automaker, these algae capture CO2 and store oil in their cells. Mazda extracts that oil and turns it into usable fuel. The result is a car that “contributes to reducing atmospheric CO2 the more it is driven,” says the brand.”
I think “the brand” needs to refresh it’s definition of “carbon neutral” vs “carbon negative”:
https://greenly.earth/en-us/blog/company-guide/what-does-it-mean-to-be-carbon-positive
go on…
“Carbon neutral” fuel like bioalgae do not “contribute to reducing atmospheric CO2 the more it is driven”. You need a carbon negative fuel to.do that.
I know a large number of posters here hate them, but if Mazda brought back the 6 as a coupe crossover that wasn’t too high off the ground (think CX-30 height), I’d be down.
C’mon guys, let’s do this.
Am I the only “car enthusiast” that doesn’t care if Mazda makes another rotary? I mean, if they did, I guess I would think it’s neat or whatever, but I wouldn’t want one.
No, they were only ever good on paper. In the real world, they eat fuel and oil, emissions are terrible, they’re short-lived unless, according to cultists, you treat them a specific way that seems to preclude using them as regular drivers (and the longevity is still measured against some decades-old average) unlike pretty much any other car built in decades, they have no torque, exhaust heat is a problem, they don’t sound great, and they aren’t even that light.
Well, the article was inevitable, which means so was my comment.
I’ve been very vocal about my affinity for Mazda and how much I adore their efforts for an up-market punch in the last couple of generations and their absolutely effortlessly beautiful design language.
These thoughts are dying. Both of these concepts feel so uninspired, they lack any real character or energy. They feel like Mazda trying to cram an aging design language into the same box that all the other designers have recently leapt into, and unfortunately, I think those are all awful too.
Modern cars just look cheap and crap. They’re devoid of character because they’re constantly just over simplifying their elements. Mazda has had a long run of designing attractive and well thought out headlights and tail lights and as the last few concepts and some of the very recent models have shown, they’ve abandoned that.
These dumb little squiggles look downright awful.
The Mazda 6e is an alright looking car, but I fear it may be the last handsome car Mazda launches for some time, which is so disappointing given their track record of striking gold with their design.
Just look at the previous Vision Coupe concept compared to the Vision X-Coupe. The future does not look great and we still, after all this time, do not have a new production rotary.
You can only dangle the bait for so long before we get bored and turn away. I hope things change for Mazda, they’re losing their soul.
There’s really only two long-established manufacturers I really remember not doing a concept that wasn’t damn near green-lit for production: Porsche and Mitsubishi
Porsche does internal studies, but they’re too German to have fun and publicly show off silly things at auto shows that they have no intention of building. Mitsubishi wasn’t much different. They didn’t have the money to do it, so if they were showing something at an auto show, usually you were going to see something similar soon.
I’d just be happy if they’d sell the current Mazda 2 here again. Not that I don’t love the new stuff, but they already make some cars we don’t get that are very appealing.
I’m a Mazda stan, but boy am I tired of this. Give me a RWD I6 Mazda6 and I’ll trade my GLI in yesterday.
That’s not going to happen so I guess I’ll be waiting for the new Infinit Q sedan with the manual, the new CT5, or a Ford Mustang sedan if that ever comes to be.