Mazda Says EV Era Is No Time For The MX-5 Miata To Die

You would be forgiven for thinking electrification will surely drive a nail into the coffin of specialist, lightweight sportscars like the Mazda Miata.

But that, Mazda says, is not the case. Quite the opposite in fact, as the company has confirmed this week that the Miata “will never die.”

This shot of good news for fans of two-seater convertibles the world over came from Martijn ten Brink, chief executive of Mazda in Europe.

Answering questions from Autocar about Mazda’s plans for the next generation of Miata, known in some markets as the MX-5, ten Brink said: “How do you stay true to the concept of what the car stands for taking it into the next generation of technologies? That’s not been decided. But I think for Mazda it would be fair to say that the MX-5 will never die.”

With rules in some countries demanding car manufacturers sell only hybrid vehicles with a meaningful electric range from 2030, and shift exclusively to fully-electric cars by 2035, the fate of small sports cars like the Miata had been uncertain.

Quite how a heavy battery will affect a car that in its current guise weighs just 2,332 lbs (1,058 kg) remains to be seen, but Mazda seems confident that electrification won’t bring down the curtain on its 34-year-old, two-seat roadster.

Ten Brink added: “I think [the Miata] will continue to exist forever and it will have to go with the times. That’s a super challenge, and people are passionate about this car in Mazda. Of course, as you can imagine, people have opinions on which direction it should go. So I’m very curious where it will end up, but it will definitely remain part of the line-up.”

The current, fourth generation of Miata, called the ND, arrived in 2015. Before that, the NC lived for 10 years, the NB lasted seven years and the original NA was in production for eight years.

Now also in its eighth year, the ND could soon be set for retirement. However, upgraded engines arrived in 2019 and created the so-called ND2, potentially extending the lifetime of the car. Given these timelines, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a hybrid Miata with a small battery for the NE generation, followed by an all-electric NF Miata around the middle of the next decade.