HIROSHIMA, Japan - Mazda celebrated the 40th anniversary of its first rotary-engine vehicle on Wednesday with the commitment that it will continue its research into a hydrogen version of the rotary engine that emits no carbon dioxide.
"As Mazda's next generation eco-engine, the hydrogen rotary engine holds great promise and, in fact, is already running on public roads," said Hisakazu Imaki, Mazda's representative director, chairman and CEO. "Mazda will aspire to add new value to our rotary technologies by investing further in hydrogen rotary-engine research and development."
The anniversary is noteworthy, since only Mazda has built rotary engines in large numbers. Other automakers, including VAZ, the Soviet manufacturer, are known to have produced rotary-engine autos, and the People's Republic of China has experimented with them.
On May 30, Mazda kicked off sales of the world's first dual-rotor rotary engine car, the Cosmo Sport. The Mazda 787B made rotary engine history when it became the only Japanese car to claim victory at the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. The Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE became the world's first hydrogen rotary-engine vehicle to be commercially leased in February 2006. Mazda now has seven hydrogen rotary-engine vehicles on the road in Japan.
The rotary engine, which is also called the Wankel engine in honor of its inventor, has been praised by customers for its smoothness of operation. Mazda said it has built about 1,970,000 rotary vehicles since production first began.
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