Alternate history of cars - 70s GM rotaries.

I've decided to make an alternate history of cars, in which GM makes rotaries the next big thing, at least for a few years in the 70s. Enjoy!

17th May, 1965 was an important day for the history of GM. On that day, the company signed an agreement with NSU that not only gave them rights to use the rotary engine design, but also banned other brands, including Mazda, from building their own for 20 years. The only brand excluded was Citroen, already working on their own birotor.

Was it expensive? Yes. Was it controversial to spend so much cash on a new techology? You bet your sweet ass. However, John DeLorean, Pete Estes and Semon „Bunkie” Knudsen quickly fell in love with the idea, and, using the cred they gained by making Pontiac fashionable again, made the top brass agree with it.

In order for the agreement to be worth the money, at least two rotary families had to be built. Originally, there was meant to be a 3-rotor replacing the Pontiac V8, and another rotary that would replace a different GM brand’s engine family. However, no GM company other than Pontiac wanted to try it, and finally, it was decided that there would be two Pontiac Wankels – a 2-rotor replacing the I6 and a 3-rotor replacing the V8.

In early 1966, work on both started. The engines were meant to debut in the 1970 B-, C- and F-bodies, as well as join the X-body range. However, they quickly got another debut opportunity. It was the C3 Corvette project getting split into two separate model ranges – a 2+2 FR sports car, taking the Corvette name, and a mid-engined coupe – the Pontiac Banshee, both having their debut slated around the new rotary’s arrival. The Banshee was pretty much guaranteed to be a rotary, and GM’s three rotary fans convinced Chevrolet that a rotary would suit the new Corvette perfectly.

However, as the engine’s development went on, it was showing that the new engine was a very good idea. It was both more durable and cheaper than the conventional piston engines, and soon enough, every GM brand, except GMC and Chevy’s truck wing, wanted one. Finally, it was decided that the XP-887 subcompact and the Chevy Nova would get one. It would be another 2-rotor, nicknamed „small block”, as it was meant to be smaller than the already-worked-on Pontiac one.

Still, every GM brand wanted their own, and in 1968, two brands were greenlit to produce them. They were Buick, which would replace its small-block V8 with a 3-rotor, and Vauxhall, whose inline-six was getting old, and would be replaced with a 2-rotor. Other rotary development would be halted, until the Pontiac Wankel would show its market value.

Finally, late 1969 came, and brought the rotary Pontiacs and Corvette to the market. Thanks to a large and convincing advertising campaign and very competitive pricing, these cars were very popular, and two new rotaries was greenlit – a Holden birotor, replacing the straight-six, and a single-rotor for Opel, to succeed the OHV four.

A year later, the Pontiacs were still selling well, and the new H-body rotary subcompacts were also doing so. A new strategy got developed – GM would become an all-rotary company, except for GMC, which would also move into the passenger car market, selling traditional V6s and V8s to non-Wankel buyers. Before developing their own engines, GMC factories would be making Chevy I6s and V8s.

As part of the plan, a Chevrolet birotor (I6 successor) and small- and big-block trirotor (V8 successor), as well as a Cadillac quad-rotor (V8 successor) and a Vauxhall monorotor (replacement for the I4) were put on the drawing board. 1971 saw new development starts – a big-block Buick trirotor, as well as a small- and big-block Oldsmobile one. At the same time, Ford, Mopar and AMC execs decided to buy licenses for the rotaries, not being able to make their own. All bought the Chevy birotor one and the Pontiac small-block, with Ford also getting the Holden, Chevy and XP-887 Wankels and Mopar getting the Vauxhall ones, plus the Oldsmobile trirotors.

However, European companies weren’t as eager to invest in rotaries. As Citroen showed with their offerings, Europeans weren’t as much in love with Wankels as Europeans, with the fuel consumption being an issue. Japanese makers, other than Mazda, which licensed the Vauxhall birotor, also didn’t want to get on the bandwagon – Japan’s hilly terrain was a problem for rotary engines.

Depspite that, GM was still pushing its all-rotary plan in 1972. Holden started making a V8-replacing trirotor, and Opel started working on a „big-block” single-rotor and a birotor, replacing, respectively, the bigger I4 and the I6. In the same year, the Buick and Vauxhall rotary engines had their debut. The latter was especially significant, as it was tied to the all-new „cab-forward” FWD range of executive cars, which quickly became bestsellers.

The new Vauxhalls, together with the pre-existing British Leyland machines, convinced European companies that transverse FWD was the future, but didn’t necessarily bring them to rotaries, especially with the GM license fees.

Unfortunately, the next year brought big problems.

First, it turned out that GM was too optimistic on the minimum oil requirements. Owners of higher-mileage rotaries who used cheaper oil found their cars’ engines grenading. This led to an expensive class-action lawsuit, after which every rotary owner was given a free rebuild coupon from GM, and the oil requirements were raised.

Second, the fuel consumption was a big problem when the crisis came. What previously was a minor annoyance became a big issue.

Third, the planned 1975 US emission standards were hard to meet for rotary engines. In fact, it was so hard to meet them, that Chevy, Cadillac, Oldsmobile and Buick were told to stop the Wankel development until a solution was found.

This was problematic for the Opel rotary debut, as well as the pre-existing model sales, but did not actually affect the Holden ones so much.

Finally, for 1975, the American rotary was killed. Unable to meet new emission standards without a heavy sacrifice of either affordability, power or durability, GM had to return to normal pistom engines. Pontiacs were given Chevy engines, and small-block Buicks got Olds motors. The H-bodies were phased out, and returned in 1976, redesigned to fit the Opel I4s and I6s. Rotary engine delivery contracts were cancelled, and some cars that were planned to be using only GM rotaries,, like the AMC Pacer, Mopar B-, C- and F-Bodies or the Ford LTD II, had to be reengineered.

However, in Europe and Australia, rotaries still had their development finished by Opel, Vauxhall and Holden. These companies' designs were produced until the late 80s, when tighter emission standards and the drive to homogenize GM designs led to them being replaced by piston engines.

Of course, there were attempts to make a new GM rotary, as well as other companies contemplating their own. However, none of them came into fruition - companies feared that they would have their own GM-style fiasco, or at least that it would be too costly, compared to the continued development of piston engines. The only manufacturer still making rotaries in the 90s and 2000s was Mazda, which canned the technology in 2012.

P.S. Do you have any ideas for other alternate history timelines?