A Wankel engine is a type of rotary engine, but not all rotary engines are Wankel engines. Wrapping your mind around this idea will help you to better understand the similarities as well as the ...

The rotary engine is unique in its success and failure and its ability to make an impact with a completely different way of thinking. As it is, every production car for the last 130 years, aside from ...

If Mazda is known for anything, it's its use of the venerable and unique Wankel rotary engine. The Japanese manufacturer utilized the powerplant for around 50 years as it continually developed the ...

Toyota was the first to break into the large sedan market in a meaningful way in 1967, with the introduction of the Century.

For more than a decade the name Wankel has popped up whenever car enthusiasts start talking about advanced-design automotive powerplants. The theory of the Wankel engine goes back to 1954 when Dr.

For a time, the Wankel rotary engine seemed like the future. In 1963, German automaker NSU—later absorbed into Audi—debuted the Wankel Spider, the first internal-combustion production car not powered ...

Felix Wankel's rotary engine, a version of which would power the car that would become the Two-Rotor Corvette, was billed as the next big thing for a time. Germany's NSU and Japan's Mazda were the ...

Like many teenagers in 1980s Australia, I was a willing participant in the Japanese rotary-engined street racer phase that swept the country at the time. Hell, there was even a magazine called Fast ...

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links. Mazda and NSU tend to get all the credit for Wankel rotary engines in cars, but Mercedes also did quite a bit of Wankel development, using the ...

The rotary engine is perhaps one of the most polarizing motors to have ever been commercialized. From its checkered past to its intent to live on as a range extender, the small spinning triangle has ...