![]() |
![]() |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Did used fleet carsthe car buying public abandon affordable lightweight open-topped sportscars, or did manufacturers abandon them? Either way, mazda spotted a gap in the market and in 1989 released themazda mx5used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdas
used fleet carsConceptmazda mx5used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdas
The concept for this car is rumored to have grown from a conversation that automotive journalist Bob Hall had with Kenichi Yamamoto, the managing director of mazda in used fleet carsspring 1979used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasTwo years later when Bob Hall joined mazda's product planning department, the mazda mx5took one step closer to productionused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasmazda North America (MANA) soon went to work producing used fleet carsseveral designs, meanwhile mazda's Tokyo design studio was producing designs of it's ownused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdas
In April 1984 the design sketches were presented to head office, at this stage the Tokyo mid-engined coupe used fleet carsdesign looked more promising, but MANA didn't give upused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasIn August of the same year, the teams met again at Hiroshima to compare full sized clay models used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasThis time there was used fleet carsno contest and MANA's two seater rear wheel drive design was selectedused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdas
A British company, International Automotive Designs (IAD) were charged with the task of building a working prototype used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasThis used fleet carswas completed by August 1985 and the plan was to ship it straight to Japan for review in marketing clinics, but Masataka Matsui, head of the Testing and Research division had other ideasused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasused fleetcarsInstead the car was taken to Santa Barbara, California where it could be viewed by potential buyers in it's main target marketplace used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasThe car was an immediate hit and in the used fleet carswords of one of the engineers we had people chasing us down the street asking us who made the carused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasThe car's future was assured and in January 1986 the project was used fleet carsgiven the official go-aheadused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdas
Concept mazda mx5used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasClick to see signed print bought in miata.net auction 1997 At this point serious consideration was given as to how the car used fleet carsshould be builtused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasA crucial decision had to be made , whether to build the car on an existing floor plan or to start from scatch and build a new one used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasused fleet carsmazda decided that it had the opportunity to build exactly the car it wanted and that there was no point in building it, if they didn't build it rightused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasThe attention to used fleet carsdetail and the amount of effort put in by the teams was astoundingused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasFor example Toshihiko Hirai the Product Program Manager made an audio tape of his favourite car exhaust notes and used fleet carsplayed it over and over until he had decided on exactly the right soundused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasMeanwhile, back in California, Rod Bymaster was searching for a name for this new car used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasFinally one used fleet carsday he came across the word 'Meed' in the dictionary which was derived from the old German word Miata meaning 'Reward'used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasThe name stuck and the mazda mx5was badged the 'Miata' used fleetcarsin North Americaused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdas
In August 1988 the car was presented to a select group of car magazine editors at the mazda test track in Miyoshi used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasThey loved the car, but used fleet carswere sworn to secrecyused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasThe first spy pictures appeared in 'Autoweek' in November 1988 and in June 1989 mazda held a press conference to announce the launch of their new light-weight sports used fleet carscarused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasSince then the mazda mx5, has collected awards, rave reviews and a place on the short list for car of the centuryused car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasThe rest, as they say, is History used car, used fleetcars, usedfour wheel drivepick up for sale, used japanese sportcars, used mazda, used mazdasBy: Jon beal |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
![]() |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||