A report from CarNewsChina says Changan, via its Harbin Dongan Auto Engine subsidiary, has completed the first ignition of the R05E – China’s first high-power rotary engine prototype – on December 19.

Once left behind due to high fuel consumption and fragile reliability, the rotary engine, long championed by Mazda, is making ...

A company called Changan has developed a new rotary engine, according to reports from CarNewsChina. It’s called the R05E, and it’s the very first high-powered rotary engine developed in the region.

The rotary is kind of like the Rudy (from the movie “Rudy”) of engines. It’s a little smaller than the others, and might not be quite as good, but you can’t help rooting for it. Mazda says that you ...

Long before Felix Wankel became synonymous with rotary engines, an inventive Hungarian-American engineer named Stephen M. Balzer secured one of the earliest patents for a rotary-powered automobile on ...

Wankel engines first saw use in production cars as early as 1964 — and not even in a Mazda, but rather in an NSU. That little single-rotor powerplant quickly evolved into the more typical two-rotor ...

Launched in the late 1960s, the Ro 80 wasn't just the world's first mass-produced sedan with rotary power, but also one of the most innovative production vehicles of its era. The rotary motor, also ...

Rotary engines made their biggest impact in Mazda sports cars, but a recent episode of "Jay Leno's Garage" delves into the rotary's earlier history. Before it was popularized by Mazda, the rotary ...