Mazda completes 40 years of RX-7

KUALA LUMPUR: When all looked bleak in the world of sports cars enthusiasts, Mazda made a breakthrough with an innovation which permanently made a place for itself in the market. This breakthrough car, the RX-7, boasted a better design, fuel economy, a rotary engine (new back then) and was a literal messiah to many keen drivers and sports car lovers. It’s been 40 years and Mazda gladly celebrates the birthday of this amazing piece of work.

In 1978 there was a global crisis for fuel and the four-wheelers available back then were too expensive for many, let alone maintain and use one on a daily basis. The Mazda RX-7 came to rescue in those hard times. So, how did the folks at Hiroshima, Japan make the car so much efficient in terms of economy? They realized that sports cars don’t necessarily need big motors. Rather they incorporated a better self-innovated engine and made the model sturdy enough to handle the new rotary engine. This new generation of vehicles, were not only better, but also bigger – they were 200kgs heavier than the previous models but were more spacious, at the same time.

Turbocharging also made a debut with these new generation models. The sturdier models came with a turbocharger to go with its 1.3-litre 13B Rotary engine. The owners of this newly released beauty were thrilled to experience this brand-new phenomenon in their fuel-efficient vehicles.

There were overall three generations of the RX-7 – the latter 2 being the most prominent in terms of power, efficiency and popularity. The second generation of the RX-7, the FC introduced the turbocharging feature while the 3rd generation the FD3S really took the world of racing by storm. The FD3S even made an appearance in the internationally popular movie series, Fast and the Furious.

Even today, the company constantly updates the car’s feature to go hand-in-hand with the upcoming generation of drivers and race cars enthusiasts.