It can be the whole story.

Engineering organizations fall in love with superficial attributes of solutions that worked especially well for them in the past. When RIM/BlackBerry realized the iPhone was a serious threat, they built a touchscreen phone where the entire display produces a physical clicking effect because they were so convinced that what people really want from a smartphone is the click of a keyboard.

Mazda is BlackBerry, and the rotary engine is their clicky keyboard.