© 1999-2007 Kay


MIATA HISTORY
On February 9th, 1989, Mazda Motor Corporation made history, when it unveiled the Mazda MX-5/Miata at the Chicago Auto Show. Mazda had reinvented and reinvigorated the lightweight roadster with a formula that defined affordable, fun cars for decades. Sixteen years later and Mazda's relentless pursuit of fun has never waned, with the Hiroshima-based company continuing to develop and evolve the classic concept of the two-seat roadster. With the global debut of the all-new, third-generation Mazda MX-5 at the 2005 Salon International de l'Auto in Geneva, Mazda once again demonstrates that producing a simple, lightweight sports car is fundamental to the soul of the car maker-the result is the ultimate roadster and the purest expression yet of Zoom-Zoom.

Mazda has long produced unique and exciting sports cars. The first Mazda automobile to gain worldwide notoriety was the rotary-powered Mazda Cosmo Sport launched in 1967. The Mazda RX-7, which followed in 1978, won the hearts of sports car enthusiasts and two years ago, in 2003, Mazda introduced the Mazda RX-8 and rewrote the sports car rule book. Its combination of striking design, spectacular rotary performance and comfortable accommodation for four adults wrapped in a four-door package is truly innovative.

To renew the MX-5, Mazda engineers focused on evolving the lightweight sports car concept as the all-new car must follow in the tracks of a modern motoring icon. In May 2000, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized the Mazda MX-5 as the best-selling two-seat convertible sports car in history, with 531,890 units produced to that date. Since that affirmation, demand has held strong. More than 700,000 Mazda MX-5s have been sold around the globe.

Not surprisingly, when creating the all-new Mazda MX-5, program manager Takao Kijima not only looked ahead to understand how the motoring world's needs had changed since the original Mazda MX-5 was launched, he also looked back to pinpoint and focus on what made this Mazda so special in the eyes and hands of car enthusiasts the world over. What he found was an intensity of spirit possessed by very few sports cars.