Mazda has revealed that it published an inaccurate horsepower rating for its new RX-8, Reuters reported.

Mazda had advertised the RX-8 as having 247 horsepower (hp) for the manual transmission version sold in the U.S. and 207 hp for the automatic. In fact, the sports car's rotary engine puts out 238 and 197 horsepower, respectively.

Mazda says that the advertising was written before the company altered engine specifications to meet U.S. fuel efficiency standards, the story said.

Mazda has offered to buy back RX-8s from any dissatisfied owners. So far, around 30 owners have sold back the car, at the original sticker price of $27,200 for the manual version and $25,700 for the automatic, a company spokesman said. As of the end of August, Mazda had sold 3,565 RX-8s.

For owners who choose to keep their RX-8s, Mazda is offering $500 in credit for gasoline and free maintenance for four years, or for the first 50,000 miles.

This is not the first time Mazda has had to buy back vehicles. In 2001 Mazda offered to buy back 3,500 Miata models it sold because it overstated the horsepower.

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