1999 Mazda Mx-5 Miata 10th Anniversary on 2040-cars

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Mazda's Hofu plant builds its ten-millionth car

Ten million is a lot no matter which way you cut it, and no matter what you're talking about: Ten million dollars, ten million miles, ten million people... certainly ten million cars. And that's the milestone that Mazda's Hofu plant in Yamaguchi prefecture of Japan has just achieved.
The Hofu facility has been in operation since 1982, and was supplemented with a second plant on the same site ten years later. Hofu reached a million units built in 1986 and five million in 2002. But with production now at 482,100 units per year, it took less than twelve years to double that previous milestone.
The magic ten-millionth car was a new Mazda6 (known locally as the Atenza), which is built at Hofu Plant No. 2, while Hofu Plant No. 1 gears up for the new Mazda3 (aka Axela). Scroll down below for a related press release.

Watch this 1,500-hp Mazda MX-5 smoke a race track

In December 2014 we watched New Zealand drifter "Mad Mike" Whiddett assemble his RADBUL, an NC-series Mazda MX-5 Miata with a four-rotor engine aided by twin Garrett turbochargers. The Dr. Frankensteins at engine builders Pulse Performance expected their creation to be good for 1,500 horsepower. This year we get to watch Whiddett run the monster around Highlands Motorsports Park in New Zealand, brewing up enough tire smoke to set of fire alarms in the International Space Station. When the car was finished in February Pulse Performance put it on the dyno, toning down the boost because "the tires easily smoked the rollers." The result on the day was 1,032 horsepower from the 2.6-liter engine. When Whiddett campaigned it at the Forth Worth, TX round of this year's Formula Drift Pro Championship, he said tiny adjustments have a huge effect on the way the car behaves so they were still trying to find the right balance a few months into the season because of the testing limit outside of competition. Unsurprisingly, he also said the car "is so damn fast that I'm actually having trouble slowing down." RADBUL is the third in Whiddett's line of Mazda drift specials, after the RX-8 BADBUL and the RX-7 MADBUL. Check out the video above for the ballet, and for more, check out the behind-the-scenes and the 360-degree POV videos.

Next-gen Mazda MX-5 Miata mule spied 'Ring testing

Fans of simple, lightweight motoring, rejoice - we now have images of the next-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata undergoing testing at der Nürburgring Nordschleife. Now, to be fair, this isn't some lightly camouflaged example that will give us a great peak of what the next Miata, which will also become the next Alfa Romeo Spider, will look like. This is a mule, with the new bits hidden under a current Miata's body. That doesn't mean there aren't a few scraps of valuable information here, though.
According to our flock of camera-toting spies at the Nürburgring, the next Miata is likely to grow a bit, as new models are wont to do. In particular, it will be longer and wider, and the wheelbase is likely going to be stretched, based on the shape of the wheel wells and doors. Both of those factors will add more space in the cabin.
Those are the big indications provided by these photos, but while the MX-5 might be growing, it's a safe bet based on these images that it, and the (likely pricier) Alfa, will retain the classic, long-hood, short-deck styling that so typifies rear-drive roadsters.