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Will the Mazda2 be offered as a PHEV with a rotary engine range extender?

Every few months, it seems a rumor crops up about plans from Mazda to revive the rotary engine. Last November, its CEO said the only way another one could happen is if the project was profitable, and then a month later the automaker showed off the Mazda2 RE Range Extender with a 330cc Wankel engine mounted in the rear. Now, Australian auto site Motoring reports that the PHEV may actually make production in the next-gen Mazda2 sometime after it's initial launch.
Martin Benders, managing director of Mazda in Australia, spoke to Motoring about the company's future with hybrids and basically reiterated what the CEO said last year. The Japanese automaker only plans to offer electrified powertrains in places where they can sell in sufficient numbers to be profitable, like Japan.
Mazda has been playing with the rotary range-extender idea for years. In the RE prototype, the engine was exclusively used to charge the lithium-ion batteries when they were running low, and a 100-horsepower electric motor provided all of the propulsion. It gave the little hatch an estimated range of about 250 miles. The company reportedly took inspiration from its Skyactiv engines to make the Wankel have lower friction and a lighter weight.

2015 Mazda3 interior spied for the first time

In terms of exterior appearance, not much has changed from the last time we spotted the next-generation Mazda3 out testing. Oh, sure - we can see plenty of details that clearly show the new Kodo design influence (that front end reminds us a whole lot of the sleek new Mazda6), but these latest round of spy shots don't really show us anything we haven't seen before. Oh, wait, yes they do - the interior.
Feast your eyes on the Mazda3's insides, showing a vastly reworked interior that also takes cues from the automaker's most recently refreshed products. We can see that there's a simple, clean center stack with a slim row of heating and cooling functions, and up top there's a large, presumably touchscreen display, with redundant controls found just aft of the shifter.
We expect that the 2015 Mazda3 will debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show this September, packing both petrol and diesel engines. A sedan variant is also in the works, and should debut shortly after the hatchback.

RingBanana Miata breaks 9-min Nurburgring barrier

The RingBanana is a cheap Mazda MX-5 Miata on a screaming mission: to lap the Nurburgring in under nine minutes. And let us emphasize the word "cheap." The team wanted the least expensive Miata they could find that still ran, and then wanted to spend the least amount of money possible in order to hit their target mark. We don't know how much they spent on the Ringbanana, but they were so indiscriminate about the purchase that they don't know what year the car is. They only know that it's got 90 horsepower, green springs, Fulda tires, and "it's completely crap." After setting a base lap of 9:21.8 the guys behind the project figured they'd have a fair bit of work. Turns out a new set of Kumho V70A semi-slick, road-legal race tires paired with Gabriel Pirana's driving is all they needed. With just that mod Pirana set a lap time of 8:59.9, and that was while having to deal with one spot of slow traffic that was getting around a stricken car. According to Wikipedia, this puts them between a 2010 Range Rover Sport Supercharged and a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt SS. Even though the team achieved its goal on its first attempt, the Ringbanana game isn't over – there's probably a suspension mod in the near future while the guys figure out just how quickly they can go. The video above does a good job of showing just how fun it can be driving a slow car fast.