This is 8c, Mazda new rotary engine.

The actual machine, which I saw for the first time, was larger than I expected. However, upon closer inspection, one could see that this was due to the fact that the auxiliary equipment was mounted on top of it, and if this was excluded, it was a compact cube.

The new Mazda rotary engine, or generation "2," as it is called, is an ambitious new model named the 8C, which incorporates many of the SKYACTIV concepts that have taken the world by surprise with the reciprocating engine, and pursues thermal efficiency. The rotary engine is huge and flat, and its moving combustion chamber makes cooling loss difficult, so it inevitably tends to be inferior in thermal efficiency. However, the 8C is a series hybrid power generator only (in fact, it is a DHE: probably a world first as well as Nissan's HR14DDe as a hybrid-only engine for commercial vehicles), which is thought to bring the operating range closer to the point of high efficiency. Mazda's signature MBD: Model Based Development is also used for the combustion technology, which realizes high-speed combustion in combination with direct injection technology through advanced analysis of the complex behavior of RE combustion.

The first model to be equipped with this technology is the MX-30, which plays a cutting-edge role among Mazda's vehicles and is the first in a series of HEVs to use RE. Unlike the 13B, the 8C is the first transversely mounted RE. I have the impression that it would be difficult to prevent vibrations. The layout is also unique in that the engine is mounted on the conventional transmission side (left side of the vehicle), unlike the usual transversely mounted powertrain.