Frankfurt Preview: Mazda MX-5 Superlight
Mazda MX-5 Superlight Show Car - Click above for high-res gallery
Mazda will display a concept version of the MX-5 Superlight at the IAA Frankfurt Motor Show that combines eco-consciousness with enhanced performance. Mazda isn't pretending we'll get to see the MX-5 Superlight on the road any time soon – they say this is "a pure show car" and you probably noticed in it doesn't have a windshield – but some of the strategies used to reduce the emissions from the car could be transferred to production versions of the MX-5, aka the Miata. Mazda has been saying for a while now that the next-gen MX-5 would be about 10 percent lighter overall, and it's likely that the refreshed 2011 model year MX-5 Miata could get a downsized gas engine, maybe with a turbocharger and direct injection. Other alternatives, like a diesel or hybrid powerplant, are not impossible but go against the lightweight ethos that the Superlight is espousing. Whatever happens with the MX-5 Miata that makes it to showroom floors, Mazda says the Superlight concept will feature "improved driving performance, handling, fuel economy and CO2 emissions." The Superlight will be unveiled in Frankfurt on September 15th. Until then, take a walk down MX-5 Miata lane here.
Gallery: Mazda MX-5 Superlight Show Car
[Source: Mazda]
PRESS RELEASE:
Mazda MX-5 Superlight version Show car to premiere at the IAA Frankfurt Motor Show
- A superlight concept capturing the essence of Mazda MX-5 makes its world premiere at IAA
- A pure show car taking Mazda's lightweight technology to a new level
- Improved driving performance, handling, fuel economy and CO2 emissions
After 20 years of global success, Mazda MX-5 is the best-selling two-seat sports car in the world. At Frankfurt, Mazda will present a new take on its affordable roadster in an all-new show car, the Mazda MX-5 Superlight version, designed at Mazda's studio in Oberursel, Germany. A pure show car, it takes the lightweight technology that Mazda is famous for to a new level, which improves driving performance, handling, fuel economy and CO2 emissions. This is combined with a radical exterior design requiring no windshield, and sporty chassis settings for pure roadster driving fun.
The new Mazda MX-5 Superlight version will be unveiled at Mazda's press conference in Hall 3.1, Stand A7, on 15 September, at 12:45 local time.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bip-D-Bo 11:13AM (8/05/2009)
The Miata is a great car to drive. If they could squeeze the Tuarus SHO turbo V6 engine under the hood and develop a rear mounted dual clutch transaxle (that could also be used for the Mustang), they would have a Corvette killer. It would have very similar hp to weight ratio to the Z06 at peak, but higher across the band and faster shifting. With much higher mpgs, it would be more competitive on the race course and could be marketed as a "greener" supercar. But then again, I'd rather see them use the SHO engine on the Fiesta to bring back the SHOGUN!
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Tony Belding 11:47AM (8/05/2009)
Mazda need to do something new and different with the next generation MX-5 Miata. I think they've already made comments acknowledging that the third generation (NC) car was too conservative.
It's not that there's anything wrong with the Miata formula. . . It remains popular and is really a victim of its own success. More MX-5s have been sold than any other sports car, and the owners tend to care for them pretty well and not put huge amounts of mileage on them, which means there's about a zillion old ones still on the road -- and on used car lots, and on eBay (where I found my 99) -- plus all the competing cars from other makers who were lured by the MX-5's success (though I'm guessing the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky aren't with is for long, haha!). If you plot MX-5 sales over time, it's an ongoing decline. Everybody still loves these cars but the market is too saturated with product.
Give us a new product, Mazda! Give us one that keeps the traits we love but does something the existing cars don't do. The powered hard top and the paddle shifters were steps in the right direction, but something more fundamental is needed.
I'd love to see an electric or PHEV Miata, but sadly the economics probably aren't there yet. Until then, well. . . turbo or diesel, maybe, maybe. . . from a green standpoint, biodiesel would be cool (thinking about the VW EcoRacer concept car), but where can you buy the stuff?
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paulwesterberg 12:20PM (8/05/2009)
No windshield huh? There's nothing like the feel of the wind in your hair and the bugs in your teeth.
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alexhho 4:27PM (8/05/2009)
Then wear a helmet.
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Lorena Palin 6:36PM (8/06/2009)
I just hope the miata will always have a cheeper, all gasoline, "normal" version.
It is the last true roadster. The best british roadster ever built is japanese, and it is the mazda miata. It should never die.
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