23 Jun 05
At the start of the 1990s, a huge Japanese car company launched its interpretation of a small British sportscar from the 1960s. Like the car it so clearly aped, it wasn't very big, it didn't have much power and it wasn't going to cost much money; before anyone drove it, the attention it drew was often critical. The styling was a pastiche, some said, and it was further proof - were it ever needed - that when the Japanese have no ideas of their own, they simply use others' instead.
And then we drove it. The 1990 Mazda MX-5, the car so many had scoffed at as a caricature of the Lotus Elan, became the most popular roadster in history. In the next decade and a half, 800,000 of these beautiful, effective and quite wonderful little convertibles found homes all over the world. Far from bathing in the glory reflected by the Elan, it went on to establish itself as a true legend in its own right, not just in the minds of the automotive cognoscenti but in the hearts of enthusiastic consumers all around the world.
Indeed, it recreated a whole class of car at that time. Since the likes of the MGB and Spitfire had long been put out of their misery, the affordable roadster effectively didn't exist. However, after the launch of the MX-5, the manufacturers tumbled over each other to try to capture a slice of the action. No one can say for sure, but it seems more than likely that without the MX-5, there would have been no MGF, no Toyota MR2, no Fiat Barchetta, no new-generation Alfa Spider, no BMW Z3...
That original MX-5 design lasted well, too, with even the second-generation model launched in 1998 being a comprehensive update rather than a complete overhaul. But the time has now come to replace the MX-5 in its entirety: the side indicator lamps are the only components to have survived the change.
