Original story first published in Drive on 12 April, 1996
Mazda has done the unthinkable with its MX-5 sports car, transforming the cult roadster into a coupe.
Designed in Mazda’s Californian studios, the M Coupe was the Japanese maker’s star attraction at last week’s New York Motor Show. It carries an obvious family resemblance to the larger RX-7, a model soon to be dropped from most markets.
Mazda’s US research and development chief, Tom Matano, whose Californian team created the coupe and the original MX-5, sounds positive about a production future for the new model. Officially, this depends on public reaction.
“There could be a strong demand from people who find the roadster a little too impractical, the sort of people who have been buying the Honda CRX,” he said. “In Japan, for instance, we expect 50 per cent of MX-5 buyers might opt for the coupe.”
The marketing department says the coupe has more boot space than the cramped roadster. It also promises to be lighter, by about 100kg, and still have a more rigid body.
“That was another reason for doing this project,” Matano said.
“The racing community said it would move to the Miata (MX-5) if we could make it stronger. It could lend itself to rallying too.”
Mechanically the coupe concept is largely unchanged from the standard MX-5, although it sports pop-up low-profile quad headlights, cross-drilled brake rotors, 16-inch alloy wheels with Dunlop SP8000 performance tyres and a free-flow exhaust system.
Mazda is due to give the MX-5 roadster a major styling makeover in 1998. Meanwhile a production coupe looms large. Drive
What happened to the Mazda MX-5 M Coupe concept?
Sadly, despite Tom Matano’s buoyant optimism, and overwhelmingly positive reception at the 1996 New York Motor Show, the MX-5 M Coupe was destined to remain a concept, having already failed to ignite enthusiasm at Mazda HQ in Japan.
The story actually starts in 1992 when Matano proposed a coupe version of the NA generation MX-5, even going so far as to send a full-size styling model to Japan for the bean counters to evaluate.
But the response from Japan was less than enthusiastic and according to Matano hinged on concerns about diluting the essence of the popular convertible which had by then already achieved acclaim and reverence in equal measure.
As Matano recalled years later in an interview with respected US publication, Road & Track, “they were toying with the idea, but they were so afraid of losing the purity of the convertible. So, they didn't go for it.”
Fast forward four years and Mazda is facing the prospect of a stand at the 1996 New York motor show without a, well, show-stopping concept car.
Enter Matano and his vision for a coupe version of the best-selling MX-5. Dusting off his 1992 plans, Matano and his small team, based out of Mazda’s R&D centre in California, got to work. They had just four weeks to build a new concept.
Using a regular NA series MX-5 roadster as a base, Matano approached the concept, as he revealed in a 2020 interview with popular YouTubers Savage Geese, “as if we designed the coupe to start off”.
Keeping the front of the roadster, Matano designed the rest of the fibre-glass body with subtle changes that helped the M Coupe look and feel like a finished car, ready for production.
Everything from the A-pillar back was redesigned to accommodate the roof and that wrap-around rear window and to better resolve the coupe’s overall profile. As Matano explained, he subtly raised the height of the rear bumper by just over a centimetre for a more cohesive design, adding some balance to the overall proportions to counter the visual weight of the roof.
That feeling of balance extended to the widened wheel track, both front and rear along with bigger 16-inch five-spoke alloy wheels.
Up front pop-up quad-headlights added a point of differentiation over the regular MX-5 roadster while at the back, a bigger boot enhanced the M Coupe’s practicality.
Under the skin, little changed, the M Coupe powered by the same 1.8-litere atmo four found in the roadster. A Remus exhaust system was the only concession to performance enhancement and even then, the only lift came in aural theatrics.
Inside, the M Coupe remained a two-seater, but now with a large parcel shelf while aluminium sports pedals gave off a racy vibe.
To increase headroom in the cabin, the roof featured a Zagato-inspired double-bubble design. But its implementation was so subtle it’s barely noticeable in photos. Contemporary reports suggest you needed to catch the M Coupe at just the right light to notice the bubble bulges.
Matano acknowledged the similarities between his MX-5 concept and the FD generation RX-7: “same era, same team did it”.
Like its 1992 predecessor, the M Coupe show car was never intended for production, although one gets the feeling that if Mazda’s executive team had given the green light, then Matano would have been more than happy to develop the concept further.
Mazda did eventually release a coupe version of its popular soft-top in 2003, but it was for the Japanese market only. And its design was nowhere near as resolved as Matano’s original concept. Just 179 rolled off the production line, across four variants, making the NB series Mazda MX-5 Roadster Coupe (its clumsy official title) one of the rarest production MX-5s in history. RM
Rob Margeit is an award-winning Australian motoring journalist and editor who has been writing about cars and motorsport for over 25 years. A former editor of Australian Auto Action, Rob’s work has also appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Wheels, Motor Magazine, Street Machine and Top Gear Australia. Rob’s current rides include a 1996 Mercedes-Benz E-Class and a 2000 Honda HR-V Sport.
