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Mazda CEO says rotary not viable, so don't look for a new one

We have some very sad news to report, rotor-heads fans: Don't expect a new rotary-powered vehicle anytime soon. This comes straight from Masamichi Kogai, the CEO of Mazda, which is the only company to ever market a commercially successful rotary-powered automobile in the world. The issue, as it has pretty much always been, is environmental.
While the Wankel rotary engine does indeed make a lot of power in a small, lightweight package, it does so while burning lots of fuel and emitting lots of noxious gases into the atmosphere, at least when running on gasoline. And that means the rotary engine will likely only ever be able to power niche vehicles. And that, in turn, means that it is very difficult to turn a profit on vehicles with rotary engines, particularly for a small automaker like Mazda.
"It has to be a viable commercial proposition. If we are going to adopt it, it has to be a product that can generate at least sales of 100,000 units a year. We have to be able to achieve a profit," said Kogai in an interview with Automotive News. Mazda sold 56,203 RX-7 models in the United States (the automaker's biggest market) in 1986. Sales of the RX-8 peaked in 2004, its first full year on the market, with just 23,690 units.

Lexus, Mazda win KBB 5-Year Cost To Own Awards

We focus a lot on what new cars are like to drive, but it's difficult on a one-week loan to really get a sense of what a car is like to live with. Sure, we try to recreate that sense with our long-term vehicles, but even after a year, it's impossible to know fully learn about a car, particularly in terms of reliability and cost of repairs. For 2014 model year vehicles, Kelley Blue Book has put together a list of the most affordable vehicles over a five-year period.
At the tippy top of the list are Mazda and Lexus, with the Zoom-Zoom automaker winning the award for best non-luxury brand. Lexus, meanwhile, was the most affordable luxury marque over a five-year period. It's interesting to note, though, that not a single Mazda won its segment in this year's awards.
General Motors did quite well, taking eight segments, including both the subcompact and plug-in segments, with the gas-powered Chevrolet Spark and Spark EV. The Chevy Camaro SS and ZL1 took the high-performance car award. Toyota was well represented, with five winners split between the main brand (Corolla, Prius C and Tacoma) and Lexus (LS and RX).

Mazda struggles to meet demand on rising sales

For Mazda there's good and not-so-good news on the heels of strong US sales in 2012: demand is high - especially for the Mazda3, Mazda6 and CX-5 - but supply is low, TheDetroitBureau.com reports. That's partly because all Mazda production happens in Japan, since it ended its alliance with Ford and pulled out of a joint venture with the blue oval building cars in suburban Detroit last year.
In 2012, Mazda sales here jumped 26.4 percent, but 2013 sales through August have just been keeping pace with the overall US auto industry, increasing at a rate of 6.8 percent. Mazda North American Operations director of marketing and communications Jeremy Barnes says that sales have slowed because the company is facing challenges delivering products here.