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Ladies and gentlemen, meet the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata. The highly anticipated fourth-generation (ND) model made its official debut in Monterey, CA Wednesday, and while details are slim (as in, we have practically none), there’s one big thing to talk about: less weight.
Yes, Mazda has confirmed that the new Miata sheds some 220 pounds over the model it replaces, and is “the most compact of any generation MX-5 so far.” For those keeping track, that means the new MX-5 should weigh in somewhere around 2,200 pounds.
Mazda’s Kodo design language is obvious here, with a seriously wide and low demeanor, and a mix of flowing lines and sharp angles. We don’t have any powertrain details to report as of this writing, but Mazda says the full suite of Skyactiv technologies are onboard, and the motto in creating this car was “Innovate in order to preserve.”
The refresh is Mazda’s 25th birthday present to the Miata. The perfectly balanced, bare-bones sports car is the darling of the car enthusiast world for it’s raucous driving dynamics and affordability. Major changes would normally send purists into a panic, but the fourth generation Miata will almost certainly be safer, stiffer, better equipped and more refined. It seems the world’s best-selling two seater sports car will continue to reign supreme in the near future.
Miata may not make much of a contribution to Mazda’s bottom line – it accounts for roughly one percent of the company’s global sales. But make no mistake, it’s among the most important cars the company produces – it is its spiritual center of gravity, its moral center. As the best-selling roadster of all time and perhaps the most road-raced car of the modern era, the Miata is a car that’s pretty near to the spiritual center of gravity and moral center of the auto enthusiast world, too.
This article originally appeared on Autoblog.
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