The main star at Mazda’s booth at the ongoing 2024 Bangkok Motor Show (BMS) saw the return of the fan-favourite rotary engine to a production vehicle.

The Mazda MX-30 e-Skyactiv R-EV is the first rotary-powered Mazda model in more than a decade, giving the Wankel motor a new lease of life as well as extending the range of the Hiroshima company’s first battery electric vehicle (BEV).

The MX-30 range extender has an 830-cc rotary engine that acts as a backup generator. Since this is a series-type plug-in hybrid, the rotary engine does not send power to the wheels or transmission. It serves solely as a power generator for the 17.8-kWh battery.

On electric power from the battery alone, the MX-30 only has up to 107 km range (WLTP) from a single charge but with the addition of the rotary range extender, it can go up to 600 km. It also has a 50-litre fuel tank.

Though the MX-30 R-EV was unveiled in Thailand, no prices have been announced yet. The regular MX-30 is not even available in the Kingdom but it is offered in Malaysia by Bermaz. Unfortunately, checks with Bermaz representatives said that the MX-30 R-EV will not be making it to Malaysia.

It seems that Bermaz’s BEV portfolio will concentrate on Kia and XPeng. Kia is set to launch the Kia EV9 in the country soon while the Chinese Tesla announced a few weeks ago that Bermaz was assigned as its Malaysian distributor.

Fully imported (CBU) from Japan, the Mazda MX-30 is only available with one variant, the EV High which starts from RM 199,000.

Also read: Review: Mazda MX-30 EV High - If you need to ask about range, then it's not the EV for you