All-New Mazda MX-5 debuts in Geneva

The rider-and-horse idiom and the effort to create a car universally seen as "lots of fun" served as the focal point around which the original and the all-new Mazda MX-5 were designed and engineered.

While most sports cars aim for specific performance targets—such as the time required to accelerate to 100 km/h or cornering G provided by the chassis—Mazda engineers established additional goals to reinvigorate the lightweight sports car. In essence, this became a celebration of the simple delights of driving an open roadster. The "fun" was designed for anyone and any location during sport driving and daily life.

Mazda’s emphasis is on the feel of a responsive machine that compliments any driver. The Mazda MX-5 stresses ideal dynamic balance achieved with minimal weight and propelled by a small but spirited engine. Factors of secondary importance in other cars—such as the way the open cockpit is bathed in sunshine and seasonal aroma of fresh air—top the Mazda MX-5’s list of major attributes.

Heritage and Evolution of Jinba-Ittai

For Takao Kijima and his engineering team, the first step was acknowledging that Jinba Ittai is what made the original Mazda MX-5 so attractive for sports car enthusiasts and one of Mazda’s greatest success stories. The second step was using modern engineering methods developed by Mazda to evolve the iconic Mazda MX-5 into an all-new, third-generation edition for introduction this year. To convert the subtle imagery of Jinba Ittai into nuts-and-bolts reality with a body shell, a drivetrain, and chassis components, Takao Kijima wielded a tool called Kansei Engineering.

Like Jinba Ittai, Kansei is difficult to translate into Western terms. Thoughtful awareness and heightened sensitivity are the expressions that come closest to defining Kansei. It’s the realization that the fitness of every constituent part underlies the goodness of the whole, that the aforementioned synergy between driver and car can be honed so that it can be felt by anyone who experiences the vehicle in motion. Another Kansei canon is that every aspect of design, mechanical function, and dynamic response ultimately contribute to driving satisfaction.

So, with Jinba Ittai as the point of origin and Kansei Engineering as the navigation tool, Takao Kijima and his dedicated designers and engineers created an all-new Mazda MX-5 that’s markedly better than, but not conceptually different from, the original.

At first, the team thoroughly discussed what should be retained from the first- and second-generation Mazda MX-5 models, and what to evolve for the all-new Mazda MX-5. The six key categories, seen below in what has become known at Mazda as the "fishbone chart", guided the effort towards the desired "oneness". They are styling (inside and outside), touching (every aspect concerned with the tactile sense), listening (dominated by the engine’s voice but also encompassing wind effects), cornering (handling dynamics), driving (everything from ride quality to acceleration response), and braking. The starting point of the new Mazda MX-5 was this ‘Fishbone chart’.

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