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2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata a knight in white satin

We're not going to lie to you. The reason you're seeing the fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata on these pages again is solely because this is the first time we're seeing the roadster displayed in a color other than the ruby shade it was first shown in. Okay, okay, so this is the first time the Miata is being displayed at a North American auto show other than SEMA, and we'd say that this is the first time Mazda is showing a US-spec model, but clearly this is a right-hand-drive car. Either way, there's still not much to it yet, especially since Mazda is still withholding power and performance figures.
As expected, the ND Miata, as it is already known among the cognoscenti, will receive a 2.0-liter Skyactiv four-cylinder and the buyer's choice of a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic here in the US. The 1.5-liter model engine that had been linked to the car back in the rumormill stage will not make it to our showrooms.
Preliminary specifications still show the Miata measuring just 154.1 inches in length overall, with an increased track width to 68.1 inches and a low, low overall height of 49.0 inches. Despite the larger-displacement engine and its presumably heavier weight, Mazda is still claiming ideal 50:50 weight distribution and a weight loss of over 220 pounds versus today's NC generation. All of which sounds like the Miata has the right ingredients to make good on its promised Jinba Ittai ("rider and horse as one") driving experience.

Mazda officially hints MX-30 could get a rotary range-extender

Mazda recently penned a paean to itself celebrating 100 years in business. This, naturally, meant the document also served as a love letter to the rotary engine, since, "The joy of driving, lightweight design and the rotary engine [are] three elements that define Mazda’s DNA." One of those elements has been AWOL for eight years, since the end of RX-8 production. After years of rumor feverish enough to impress Slenderman, two years ago Mazda announced it was prepping a rotary range-extender engine for a model to debut in 2020. Here we are in the anticipated year, and we still don't know anything else about that vehicle — or perhaps we do. When Mazda debuted the MX-30 battery-electric crossover in Tokyo last year, it bore an e-SkyActive powertrain with a 35.5-kWh battery sending current to an e-motor on the front axle producing 141 horsepower and 195 pound-feet of torque. With a range of around 130 miles on the European cycle, even though the crossover was meant for markets like Europe and Japan, almost everyone chimed, "This would be perfect for that range-extender engine." The automaker has hinted at that very thing for its centenary celebration. In a paragraph touching on alt-fuel RX-7 variants, the Mazda press department wrote, "Later, the company developed a prototype Mazda2 EV with a small single-rotor engine used as a range extender. A similar system could find its way onto the Mazda MX-30, a brand new battery electric crossover SUV arriving at dealerships this year." The word "could" didn't make the leap from the printed page into the video translation of the presser, a Mazda video on "The Dream Engine" ending with footage of the MX-30 rolling under the caption, "Mazda MX-30 with rotary range extender." When asked, Mazda's head of R&D in Europe explained the battery size and resultant range with wheel-to-well considerations that factored energy input and emissions output from making the battery to exchanging the battery after 100,000 miles of driving. Since the carmaker doesn't deem the pure-electric MX-30 suited to the U.S., the question bubbling beneath the latest news is whether this revised model with more range could make it here. Given a suitably sized fuel tank that could power the little people mover beyond 150 miles on U.S. roads, and a fair price, we suspect there'd be a great deal of interest. Now, Mazda, about that rotary-powered RX-7 ... Related Video:    

Mazda's rotary engine may live on as a range extender (UPDATE)

Update: We received a response from Mazda that confirmed plans for a 2019 electric car available in battery-only and range-extended models, but there was no comment on any other details. The text has been updated to reflect this. It may be time for rotary fans to start getting their hopes up a little for a return of the spinning triangle engine. Automotive News spoke with Mitsuo Hitomi, the man in charge of Mazda powertrains, who said there's a very good chance the next implementation of the rotary engine will be as an electric car range extender. The news source also suggests that such a vehicle could be just around the corner, since Akira Kyomen, Mazda's vehicle development program manager, confirmed to Automotive News that the company will have an EV out in 2019 in both pure electric and range-extended versions. We reached out to Mazda for more information, and a representative confirmed both the pure electric and range-extended models for 2019, but couldn't comment on anything else regarding those vehicles. Looking back, we have reason to believe that this really might happen. As far back as 2013, Mazda was working on a rotary-engine range-extended electric car in the form of the Mazda2 RE Range Extender. It had a total range of 250 miles, half of which came from its battery, the other half from a 330 cc rotary engine generator fueled by a 2.6-gallon gas tank. More recently, Mazda has also teased rotary power with the RX-Vision concept at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show and another rumored rotary concept at this year's show, which could be the design concept teased recently. But most convincing is the patent we found from Mazda that described a range-extended electric car that would specifically use a rotary engine. The powertrain layout looks just like the one used in that Mazda2 concept. There's also the fact that, as we've previously pointed out, and as Hitomi mentioned to Automotive News, the rotary could be a good range-extender due to its compact size and smoothness. Of course it also isn't known for being the most efficient engine, but if it isn't required to provide all the forward propulsion, it could be made small enough that it's frugal, and the added space and weight savings would be important for making the vehicle more practical, adding more batteries, or simply keeping the car lighter. This news might not excite rotary die-hards who have been waiting for an RX-7 and RX-8 successor, but they shouldn't quite abandon hope yet.