Abstract A new design of synchronous reluctance motor with segment-shaped outer rotor is presented and investigated in this paper. In order to obtain correct recommendations for optimal design of the studied synchronous reluctance motor, analytical relations of motor electromagnetic parameters and geometrical dimensions (also known as metamodels) have been synthesized. Electromagnetic parameters, which have been used for metamodels synthesis, are obtained by means of magnetostatic field numerical calculations with finite element method using software QuickField. The paper includes the analysis of the studied synchronous reluctance motor geometrical parameters (stator outer diameter, height and overlap angle of rotor’s segment-shaped packages) influence on the electromagnetic torque per unit volume. Testing of synthesized metamodels shows that relative difference between the results obtained by numerical calculations and those obtained with the help of synthesized metamodels does not exceed eight percent at experimental points and intermediate points as well. The proposed optimal design of the segment-shaped outerrotor synchronous reluctance motor obtained with the help of synthesized metamodels has been compared with a salient-pole outer-rotor synchronous reluctance motor having ferromagnetic yoke with the same value of the electromagnetic torque. The comparison results of both motors show that the highest value of electromagnetic torque per unit volume can be achieved with the proposed new design of the synchronous reluctance motor with segment-shaped outer rotor.