All-new Mazda MX-5 SkyActiv unveiled

Mazda has taken the sheets off its latest fourth-generation MX-5 Roadster at three separate events held simultaneously in Japan, USA, and Spain. Set to enter the global market starting 2015, the latest iteration of Mazda’s pint-sized sports car will be the first model in its lineage to incorporate the company’s renowned SkyActiv technology and styled with its distinctive Kodo – Soul of Motion look.

Currently the world’s best-selling two-seater sports car ever, according to the Guinness World Book of Records, first three generations of the MX-5 have collectively found 940,000 homes around the world as of July 2014 in its 25 years of existence. As things stand, the fourth generation look set to help take Mazda past the auspicious 1 million mark.

Official pictures of the vehicle’s interior and exterior have been released, along with images of the vehicle’s underpinnings, but actual details remain scarce as we publish this. Known information is that it will be more compact than any of the first three model generations, and that it will be a full 100kg lighter than the outgoing third-generation NC model.

Sporting perhaps the most radical appearance of any MX-5, the new model’s mechanical layout stays true to a much-loved and not to mention tried and tested front-mid engine rear-wheel drive format. A naturally-aspirated engine from the SkyActiv family supplies propulsion, and the chassis sits on all-independent suspension, sporting double wishbones up front and a sophisticated multi-link set up at the rear.

We will bring more details of the all-new MX-5 as they trickle in, but until then, enjoy the first images from Mazda.

KON

Pictures: Official Mazda release.