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Inside Mazda

Mazda MX-5 Miata — The Choice of a Million Mazda Fans

Life is richer and more fun with an MX-5 Miata

Mazda Miata

The MX-5 Miata is a symbol of Mazda’s car-making philosophy, “Jinba Ittai,” which means horse and rider as one and expresses the type of fun-to-drive roadster engineers have intended to build since day one of the vehicle’s inception. Since its debut in 1989, the model has consistently offered driving fun that can only be experienced in a lightweight sports car and because of this, it has won the admiration of people from various countries, cultures and age groups.

mx5 miata

Premiering at the Chicago Auto Show in February 1989, the original MX-5 (NA) went on sale in the United States later that May as a 1990 model. The NA truly deserved its “lightweight sports car” title coming in at just over 2,000 pounds and its instant popularity encouraged other automakers to also try their hand at developing open-top sports cars.

mx5 miata

The second generation MX-5 (NB) debuted at Tokyo Motor Show in 1997 and went on sale as a 1999 model year. The NB saw a number of limited editions, including a high-performance turbocharged model and a coupe version in Japan. In 2000, the MX-5 was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world’s best-selling convertible two-seater sports car.

mx5 miata

Launched at Geneva International Motor Show in 2005, the third generation MX-5 (NC) featured a 2.0-liter engine for the first time. A year later, a retractable hardtop model was added to the lineup. It was designed to make the pleasures of open-top driving accessible to a wider audience and was a hit with fans around the world.

mx5 miata

The latest iteration of the MX-5, the fourth generation (ND), was unveiled in the United States in September 2014. Production of the model reached one million units almost exactly twenty-seven years to the day after the first ever MX-5 rolled off the assembly line.

Recently, Mazda introduced the new ND hardtop version as the 2017 Mazda MX-5 RF (Retractable Fastback). With this dramatic version of the MX-5, Mazda stayed true to the hardtop’s aim of making open-top driving more accessible, but freed itself from traditional ways of thinking. Mazda took on new challenges in order to create something completely different and ended up designing a vehicle that had an exhilarating open-air feeling with the top down yet had gorgeous fastback styling with the roof closed.

Now with two distinct MX-5 models, Mazda hopes to introduce the joy of convertible sports cars to a wider audience and help even more people live rich, fun-filled lives.

[1]  Certified by Guinness World Records Limited