The highs & lows of the rotary engine
These cleverly-designed but hard-to-accept devices make for fascinating reading – here’s their story
by David Finlay
8 April 2025
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For the last 130 years, almost every internal combustion engine fitted to a car has had anything from one to 16 pistons inside it.But this isn’t the only option. Some manufacturers have used, or at least experimented with, rotary engines, which at first sight appear to have a much more clever design. The fact that they have not become universal, despite having been available to the public for nearly 60 years, shows that this isn’t entirely the case.Nevertheless, they are fascinating devices, and well worth a look. We’ll start with a brief investigation of their history and design, and then discuss 36 actual or planned rotary-engined cars, in approximate order (because the timescale isn’t always obvious) of when they appeared:
