Something very different is coming this way: a low sports car with four proper seats and four doors like French windows. There is no centre pillar so it's easy to get into the back. This car should be capable of 150 mph and 0 to 60 mph in around six seconds, writes Andrew Hamilton.
It's the Mazda RX-8, part of a new model programme intended, according to Mark Fields, Mazda's young Ford-appointed president, to "rekindle the spirit of Mazda." In the past, Mazda thrived on innovation. It persevered with the Wankel Rotary engine long after the Germans gave it up. It developed four-wheel-steering, a four-wheel-drive rally car, small cars with six-cylinder engines and a popular saloon that looked like a coupé. Mazda entered the only rotary-engined car in the Le Mans 24-hour race - and won.
Today the pioneering spirit is back in the RX-8 sports coupé that we will see early next year. To everyone's surprise, Ford did not dump the thirsty rotary engine in the name of rationalisation but allowed Mazda to develop a new version. The twin-rotar engine is lighter, more compact and more economical than its RX-7 predecessor. It produces 250 bhp and drives the rear wheels through a six-speed semi-automatic gearbox.
The really interesting bit is that the RX-8 will be the first modern car sold in Europe to feature what Mazda calls "freestyle doors". There is no danger of their being opened inadvertently or while moving as the rear doors can only be released when the front ones are open.
Fears that deleting the centre pillar would reduce the rigidity of the body are unfounded: cross-beams and lower chassis members filled with foam have made the RX-8 as stiff as a conventional coupe. The real significance is that we can expect freestyle doors on other Mazdas and other cars including Fords, in the future. The body of the RX-8 will be used in different forms for other models with conventional engines.
Mazda, based in Hiroshima, is run almost entirely by Americans. Ford took management control when Mazda got into financial trouble in 1996. It has taken six years to integrate Mazda activities with other parts of the Ford world. Now it has a stream of new cars in the wings, including the Mazda6 and a hatchback-cum-MPV to replace the Demio.
Mazda under Ford management had looked in danger of losing not only its independence but also its spirit, the can-do attitude that brought the delectable MX-5 sports car into being and made Mazda the only car producer to offer a rotary engine. The existence of the RX-8 shows that it will continue to have unique and interesting cars in the future. The spark has been rekindled. Watch out for those doors like French windows!