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.

Most car enthusiasts associate the term “rotary engine” with Felix Wankel’s invention, developed in the 1950s and most ...

When I wrote about Mazda’s attempt to create the perfect range extender, I mentioned I wanted to examine the ideas that seem to be closer to that goal. Unfortunately, the Japanese company’s attempt ...

Mazda isn’t the only company out there working on the next-generation rotary engine. According to China Car Times, Chery is also dabbling in Wankel technology. The company isn’t so much interested in ...

In theory, Wankel-style rotary internal combustion engines have many advantages: they ditch the cumbersome crankcase and piston design, replacing it with a simple, single-chamber design and a thick, ...

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 ...

Felix Wankel, a German engineer who invented the rotary engine, is born on Aug. 13, 1902, in Lahr, Germany. Wankel became fascinated with internal combustion engines at an early age and began ...

Everyone generally knows about piston and rotary engines, with many a flamewar having been waged over the pros and cons of each design. The “correct” answer is thus to combine both into a single ...