The rotary-powered Mazda RX-8's life is coming to an end, no thanks to stricter emission rules. And as a send off, Mazda created a final special edition for the unique four-door coupe called Spirit-R, launched in November last year and limited to 1,000 units.

But too many enthusiasts wanted a piece of the farewell cake, so Mazda has decided to extend production of the Spirit-R by another 1,000 units. According to the Hiroshima-based carmaker, orders poured in from customers of all ages including sports car fans and rotary engine enthusiasts. The six-speed manual has been more popular, accounting for 66% of orders.

Both manual and auto variants have their own exclusive kit. The self shifter sports aero parts, "hard suspension" with Bilstein dampers, Recaro fabric bucket seats, aluminum pedal set and 19-inch bronze-painted forged aluminum wheels.

The six-speed Activematic auto on the other hand gets black leather seats (eight-way powered with memory), "sports suspension", 225/45 91W tyres and 18-inch alloys (gun metallic) and heated front seats. Three body colors are available for both - Aluminum Metallic, Sparkling Black Mica and Crystal White Pearl Mica.

Kit shared across the board are a special ornament, black bezel lamps, larger brake rotors, piano black trim, front/side/curtain airbags, DSC and TCS, leather steering and centre console box with red stitching. The Spirit-R is priced at 3,250,000 yen (RM124,789) for the manual and 3,120,000 yen (RM119,816) for the auto.

Mazda started selling the twin-rotor rotary RX-8 in April 2003, and as of 31 March 2012, has produced 192,094 units of the rear-wheel drive sportscar. Production ends next month. Sayonara!