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Mazda CEO says rotary not viable, so don't look for a new one

We have some very sad news to report, rotor-heads fans: Don't expect a new rotary-powered vehicle anytime soon. This comes straight from Masamichi Kogai, the CEO of Mazda, which is the only company to ever market a commercially successful rotary-powered automobile in the world. The issue, as it has pretty much always been, is environmental.
While the Wankel rotary engine does indeed make a lot of power in a small, lightweight package, it does so while burning lots of fuel and emitting lots of noxious gases into the atmosphere, at least when running on gasoline. And that means the rotary engine will likely only ever be able to power niche vehicles. And that, in turn, means that it is very difficult to turn a profit on vehicles with rotary engines, particularly for a small automaker like Mazda.
"It has to be a viable commercial proposition. If we are going to adopt it, it has to be a product that can generate at least sales of 100,000 units a year. We have to be able to achieve a profit," said Kogai in an interview with Automotive News. Mazda sold 56,203 RX-7 models in the United States (the automaker's biggest market) in 1986. Sales of the RX-8 peaked in 2004, its first full year on the market, with just 23,690 units.

2014 Mazda3 configurator zoom-zooms to life

The 2014 Mazda3 is probably going to be on a lot of shopping lists, thanks to its striking good looks, clean interior treatment, fuel economy and driving character. If it happens to be on your personal list of new cars to test, you'll be happy to see that the configurator for Mazda's newest product has officially gone online.
In terms of build-your-own web items, configuring a 3 isn't much of a departure from the rest of the Mazda range. Most of the work comes from choosing one of the three trim levels - Sport, Touring and Grand Touring - and selecting either the 155-horsepower, 2.0-liter, Skyactiv four-cylinder or its larger sibling, the 184-horsepower, 2.5-liter, Skyactiv four. From there, a simple range of color and interior finishes are available, before a slim list of packages, options and accessories. Really, Mazda's made it easy to get through this build process.
Click on over to the configurator and take a look at the options, colors and prices for Mazda's newest five-door hatchback.

Mazda ad showing Facebook updates while driving criticized by Senate committee [w/video]

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-WV, held an all-day summit on Thursday to discuss the dangers of using modern technology while driving, during which an ad that Mazda aired during the Super Bowl was used as an example of the worrisome future towards which we're headed. While seemingly innocuous at first glance, the ad, which can be seen below, shows a brief glimpse of a driver using the Mazda Connect infotainment system in a Mazda3 to check/update his Facebook page while driving down the road.
Officials from major communications companies like Samsung, Google and Apple attended the summit, as well as representatives from automakers including General Motors and Toyota. A representative from Mazda was not present despite the company's own currently available technology being used as the poster child for the issues being discussed.
According to Automotive News, Senator Rockefeller warned the automaker and communication execs on hand that he will propose legislation to regulate the use of technology while driving if they don't work together to implement their own standards more quickly. Michael Robinson, GM's vice president of sustainability and global regulatory affairs, argued that his company has had distracted driving guidelines in place for 15 years since the advent of its OnStar system, noting that the technology in question has also helped the automaker save lives through automatic crash detection and calls to 911.