Mazda

Mazda is a plucky, smaller Japanese automaker that has embraced a sporty identity and unconventional technology from the very beginning. The rotary engine, developed by Felix Wankel, was investigated by many automakers, but it was only Mazda that solved most of the engine's issues and mass-produced it successfully. The sporty, powerful and very small rotary engine debuted in the Cosmo and became famous in the RX-7. The MX-5 Miata, with a conventional gas engine, became the best-selling roadster of all time and is a fun-to-drive mainstay to this day. Mazda's KODO design language and efficient Skyactiv engines used in the contemporary 3, 6, CX-5, and CX-9 set it apart, but its upcoming Skyactiv-X compression-ignition gas engine could be truly revolutionary.