The Mazda MX-5 celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, having been unveiled at the 1989 Chicago Motor Show. Since then, it has become the most successful sports car ever, with sales approaching one million units out of 3 generations. And it shouldn't stop there, with the presentation of the new generation already in 2015.
To start with the celebrations, there's nothing like remembering the first MX-5 with a small but substantial video on the machine's origins. Jay Leno invites to his famous garage two of the main players in the birth of the MX-5 (or Miata in the United States of America), where Bob Hall, then a journalist at Motor Trend, and Tom Matano, the designer who would give the lines, stand out final and iconic to the eternal roadster, with the first hypothetical discussions about a small sports-car by Mazda to emerge in the 70s.
Evoking the spirit of small English sports cars of the 60s, where the benchmark and inspiring Lotus Elan stands out, the MX-5, since its introduction in 1989, has been synonymous with fun behind the wheel. It will never win a duel of pure performances, but the contained weight and an exceptional chassis, help to fill that “flaw”, guaranteeing a unique driving experience and even surpassing much more powerful and expensive proposals.
Have questions? see this MX-5 beating up “instituted powers” on the Sebring Circuit.
Show you a road with curves, and there should be few that captivate for its fluidity, communication and immediacy of response like the MX-5.
Add reasonable price and costs, above-average reliability, immense customization potential and performance extraction, as well as a general lack of competitors (there was an outbreak in the mid-1990s, but there are none left), and you get it. the continued success of this iconic and historic automobile over 25 years. And it doesn't stop here...
It is already in 2015 that we will see the new generation of the Mazda MX-5 , promising to be lighter and more economical than the current one, with the use of Skyactive engines. But the big news is the fact that I have a brother. Derived from your platform, we'll see an MX-5 parlare Italian. The agreement signed between Mazda and what is now called FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), heralded a successor to the also mythical Alfa Romeo Spider. Sharing the platform, but with distinct mechanics and aesthetics, it was considered a blessed marriage. Recent developments point to the abandonment of this plan. Well, at least in part. There will be an “Italian” MX-5, but the symbol it will bear should not be that of Alfa Romeo, with the most likely brands to take its place being Fiat or Abarth in 2016.
One thing is certain: we will continue to have a Mazda MX-5!