An official sketch of the next generation 2015 (or 2016MY) Mazda MX-5 Miata has been leaked ahead of the roadster model’s unveil at the New York Auto Show later this month, confirming a recent report from Autoweek magazine that the Japanese firm would bring the car to the Big Apple for its world premiere.
We don’t have any official information in our hands yet and thus, it’s unclear whether the new MX-5 seen in this drawing previews the final production car or a very thinly disguised concept, as was the case with the Geneva motor show Mazda2 hatchback.
The styling of Mazda’s new rear-wheel drive roadster is consistent with the brand’s latest products incorporating the more aggressive and edgier Kodo design language. It’s still identifiable as an MX-5, but it seems to have a more masculine feel to it – at least from this sketch.
Sources have indicated that the new car will ride on a lightweight platform and use new engines incorporating the brand’s SkyActiv fuel efficiency technology – reportedly in four-cylinder 1.5-liter and 2.0-liter displacements.
The Fiat-Chrysler Alliance (FCA) has worked together with Mazda on the development of the fourth-gen MX-5 and plans to reveal its own car based on the Japanese roadster’s underpinnings next year. Originally, Fiat announced that it would build an Alfa Romeo Spider replacement on the MX-5 chassis, but FCA boss Sergio Marchionne recently told journalists that the company is having second thoughts, and may end up using the platform for another brand – possibly Fiat or Abarth.
By John Halas
Declaration of AFD guilt: I’d like to officially inform you that our MX-5 story was an April 1st hoax, with the design sketch made by Josh Byrnes
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