The 2002 Mazda RX‑8 concept car previewed which engine type?

The 2002 Mazda RX-8 concept car previewed the RENESIS rotary engine. Mazda developed RENESIS as a new-generation, naturally aspirated Wankel engine for the RX-8, continuing the company’s long-running rotary-engine program.

Unlike a conventional piston engine, a Wankel uses triangular rotors spinning inside specially shaped housings. The RX-8’s RENESIS was a two-rotor engine with a total nominal displacement of 1,308 cc. Mazda moved the exhaust ports to the side housings, helping reduce port overlap and improve emissions and fuel economy compared with earlier designs.

A common mix-up is calling the engine simply a “13B.” RENESIS is also designated 13B-MSP, but it was a substantially revised development rather than merely the same 13B used in earlier RX-7 models. The production RX-8 arrived in 2003, and RENESIS won the 2003 International Engine of the Year award.