Quarter of a century ago, Tom Matano and Bob Hall with their team took a simple concept and turned it into a phenomenal reality which then was named Mazda MX-5 Miata. There may not be any other example where you find a phenomenon still profound after all those ages.
What other place would be better than the New York Auto Show to celebrate such a wonderful accomplishment, so Mazda has brought Miata’s 25th anniversary special edition along with 15 legendary Miatas including the one and only built 1998 Miata and a 1996 M Coupe, built within past 25 years. Mazda has also let the audience have a glimpse into the next generation Miata with its historic powerful engines which is all set to arrive in the market within next year, hopefully.
Miata-25th-anniverdary-edition
When this car was on the scratch-board, its philosophy was kept very simple: creating a two seater sports car which will induce a sense of passion into the drivers while keeping them smile. So when it finally made its debut, company was expecting to sell only a few hundred vehicles a month but soon the numbers skyrocketed and it went to thousands a month. Today, after a quarter of a century has gone, the worldwide sales figure of Miata has topped over 1 million, making it world’s best selling sports car in two seater category.
Years in, years out, so many other two seaters came and went but Miata stood fast. Why? What was or is so different here? Well, according to what Bob Hall stated: “Miata is not about numbers, it’s all about feeling.”
Miata-Skyactiv-chassis
Matano was the man who came up with the original design of pop-up head lamps that we know of, is still feeling very confident about the fourth generation which will be arriving on Mazda’s SkyActiv platform, at Chicago Auto Show next year which is the location of Miata’s original debut. Takashi Yamanouchi, Chairman Mazda said: there is no doubt about it that Miata has become the ‘brand icon’ of Mazda.
