Next-Generation Mazda MX-5 Won't Be Smaller, Just Lighter

Sick of trying to motivate your Mazda MX-5 Miata’s prodigious tonnage? Thinking of giving that porker away to a friend? Help is on the way.

The next generation of automotive journalism’s favorite ride will shed weight, thanks to the use of carbon fiber, Autocar reports. That could mean smaller engines for all markets.

MX-5 program manager Nobuhiro Yamamoto told the publication that the fifth generation won’t appear before 2021, but when it does, expect an even lighter vehicle. Despite the diet, the Miata won’t slim down its proportions. Consumers aren’t getting smaller, and they want to carry more than just a wallet.

“The size is right,” said Yamamoto. “But in the future lightweight materials will be very important and will be used in this car. Now carbonfibre is very expensive, but we have in development affordable carbonfibre, so the MX-5 will be lighter in the future.”

Adding carbon fiber to the vehicle’s construction means less weight to move and stop, so components like engines, brakes and tires can shrink, Yamamoto added. That reduces weight even more, not that the Miata has a problem with that. A base MX-5 Miata Sport tips the scales at a trim 2,332 pounds.

A featherweight Miata also means better fuel economy, not that Mazda logs many complaints about that. TTAC’s Timothy Cain recorded an average of 34.1 miles per gallon on a week-long tear in his tester.

While the model comes with a 155 horsepower 2.0-liter four cylinder in North America, overseas markets get a 129 hp 1.5-liter. The next-generation model could make do with even less displacement.

Autocar anticipates a three-cylinder mill when the fifth generation bows, but that isn’t a safe bet on this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific). A downsized four-cylinder is a better bet for these shores, but 2021 is still a ways off.

[Image: Mazda USA]