The SEMA Show in Las Vegas has officially begun, and with it comes Mazda’s super cool new concept cars, the MX-5 Spyder and MX-5 Speedster. Featuring some vintage flair, the designs are basically lighter, open-air versions of the all-new 2016 MX-5 Miata.
“Both MX-5 Spyder and MX-5 Speedster are uncompromising designs that highlight the core strengths of MX-5,” says Ken Saward, design manager, Mazda North American Operations. “The all-new 2016 MX-5 served as a blank canvas for our design team to create some truly one-of-a-kind cars, yet our SEMA concepts remain true to more than 25 years of MX-5 heritage.”
The core strengths Saward speaks of are the company’s three tenets: lightweight, fun-to-drive, and roadster. Mazda has been creating based off of these principles since first introducing the Miata in 1989 and these two new concepts are no different.
Drawing from vintage roadsters, the 2,301-pound MX-5 Spyder boasts a “specially-formulated Mercury Silver paint color, carbon fiber aero kit, grille intake and body toneau cover and lightweight Yokohama ADVAN Racing RS II 17-inch wheels.”
The open-top, 2,080-pound Speedster was inspired by 1950's models, skipping the windshield and adding a deflector. It also has “adjustable coilover suspension, which lowers it by 30mm compared with the production-car specifications, a Racing Beat center-mount exhaust, an interior retrimmed in Alcantara, carbon fiber Mu-Len Delta seats created exclusively for MX-5 and carbon fiber doors.”
Now for the bad news. Since these concepts were created for SEMA, they won’t be put into production.
