Mazda MX-5 gets tin top
Popular roadster aims for a wider audience with the introduction of a folding metal roof
Mazda will use this month’s London Motor Show at the ExCel Centre (July 20-30) as the world launch-pad for the folding hard-top version of the new MX-5.
Ahead of the show, Mazda was keeping tight-lipped about the new model, which is set to go on sale later this year in Europe as the Mazda MX-5 Roadster Coupe.
Word from Japan, however, is that careful engineering of the powered roof has ensured that it adds just 30kg to what is already a very trim, lightweight package. From open to closed and vice versa, the roof does its stuff within a reputed 20 seconds.
On the face of it, the compact SLK-type roof is a way to broaden the audience for the new version of the popular roadster even further, especially in Europe, which now vies with the US as the MX-5’s biggest marketplace. But the roof will also bring dynamic benefits, making the shell more rigid and thus improving handling too.
On the down side, it will almost certainly raise the centre of gravity, and, on a practical note, eat into the boot-space.
We hear that Mazda was able to bring the hard-top to market in an impressively cost-effective way and in Japan, at least, it is being billed simply as an option for the current MX-5 range at an additonal cost of little more than ¥200,000 (around £950 at current rates).
There’s no word ahead of the show on any mechanical bits not directly related to the roof, but they’re expected to be standard. The car is expected to hit UK showrooms in September.
