Most Japanese car manufacturers have all found a way to differentiate themselves, Toyota has the reputation for producing bullet-proof cars (although that reputation may currently be slightly bruised), Subaru and Mitsubishi make all-wheel-drive rally inspired sportscars and Nissan makes the grand-daddy of them all, the Nissan GT-R.

Mazda on the other hand has always stuck to its Rotary powered sports cars that have created a unique cult of car enthusiasts. The Mazda RX-8 has come a long way since its introduction in 2003 and its designer, Mr Ikuo Maeda, is hoping to revive the RX-7.

Maeda was in charge of the RX-8 design but more interestingly his father, who held a similar job at the company was in the charge of the original RX-7. “I was a real car lover long before I started designing cars, there are lots of car enthusiasts at Mazda, but I think I’m at the top”, says Maeda.

The Mazda designer is known internally as “Speedy” for his performance on the race track in his Mazda MX-5 and Lotus Elise. The man was also behind the current generation Mazda2, but his big ambition is to bring back the RX-7. “I do have a strong yearning to revive the RX-7 during my tenure but in order for that to happen, we need the U.S. economy to come back, first and foremost”, Maeda said.

Although potentially many years away, Mazda fans can rejoice knowing they have a man with enormous passion pushing the RX-7 project internally.

Adapted from CarAdvice