Well shit.. I wonder if they are going to continue the Rotary Engine.
It'll always exist as a niche market item. They're still well suited for racing where people can wind them up to 10k. I suspect a properly tuned racing Wankel would probably still have some power up there. The commercial versions certainly didn't. My experience was that the RX7 was a cool car with a needlessly weird engine. Given the wear and tear on the apex seals, and the need to redline them on a regular basis to burn off carbon deposits, they're just not well suited to Joe Blow.
Mazda will continue to produce them just because the RX8/RENESIS platform is reasonably stable and people like it. I suspect that if they were to suddenly put a standard piston engine in there, it'd lose it's uniqueness and be the end of the model.
So it's a case of people in general wanting bigger small trucks?
One would think that consumers would be seeking out small, more fuel-efficient autos, even in the trucks and land-yacht markets.
Not sure about the rest of the US, but I can tell you that down here in Superficialville, the shitty mileage is the whole point. The wealthy tree huggers drive Priuses because that's what treehuggers do, and the wealthy conservatives drive H2's and Escallades to show everybody that they don't need to worry about gas prices. Driving something smaller would suggest that you can't afford a bigger ride.