Is the petrol-powered MX-5 as we know it being saved by Mazda's electrification hesitancy?

One of the world’s most popular sports cars is approaching a turning point - and we don’t mean a sharp bend in the road.

The Mazda MX-5 has followed a pretty simple and proven formula for its whole life, over four generations: a front-mounted engine, rear-wheel drive, natural aspiration and a bit of wind in your hair.

But as efficiency and emissions come into the spotlight, something might need to change. Is the MX-5 going to go electric?

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The answer to that is, eventually, probably, but not just yet.

See, Mazda has an electric car, but it’s not exactly setting the world on fire - nor was it expected to. Whether a band-aid attempt to prove it wasn’t ignoring electrification, or a toe in the water using a car it knew wouldn’t sell in huge numbers, the Mazda MX-30 is the brand’s lowest-selling model this year so far - except for another, the near-decade-old MX-5.

So when Mazda revealed what very much appeared to be an electric version of its topless icon in a video late last year addressing the future of sustainability, there was some confusion.

Now, reports from Japan seem to point in a slightly less extreme direction for the future electrification of the Mazda MX-5.

According to Japanese magazine Best Car, the next MX-5 will adopt a more gradual approach to going electric, using a technology the brand has already implemented in other models - its mild-hybrid system.

The outlet, which normally has word from insiders at company HQs, says it expects the next-gen MX-5 with an evolution of Mazda’s M Hybrid mild-hybrid system to debut in around 2025 - which will make the current model the longest-serving MX-5 of the four generations.

This could mean its drivetrain just about already exists, with the MX-30 utilising a 114kW/200Nm 2.0-litre petrol four-cylinder engine and the hybrid system as a boost.

Given the relatively low volume with which the roadster sells, it’s possible this could last it another several years before a new generation is required to go full-EV.

What’s almost guaranteed is that the next MX-5 won’t avoid some kind of electrification.

Mazda Motor Corporation Chief Designer, Akira Tamatani told Australian media last year that electrification would need to be considered for what’s certainly to be called the NE MX-5.

"Next-generation MX-5, we may have to think about electrification as well there,” said Tamatani.

“If that’s the case, the car has to be lightweight of course, and it has to have MX-5-ness. How can we satisfy both of those things? We need to run a study of that. We don't have a clear answer to that."

At the moment, if Mazda is to continue selling the MX-5 (something the brand’s executives the world over continually say it will) and doing so in the spirit of the model’s history, an electric sports car isn’t quite right just yet.

In the UK last year, the brand’s European Product Development and Engineering head, Joachim Kunz, told media the car could almost exist ‘forever’ in its current form, such is the simplicity and popularity of its formula.

“It’s our brand icon and it is always treated very specially,” Kunz told Autocar.

“At the moment, it looks like we will have this car forever, with this size and concept and combustion engine. Of course, some day, we will have to electrify it, but we want to keep this pure concept.”

Kunz also addressed the MX-5’s age, with the ND now approaching a decade old after its initial reveal in late 2014, saying “having one generation for 10 years is not a problem for us”.

The maths checks out there, with the NA having run for about eight years, the NB (heavily based on the NA) for seven, and the NC for 10.

In any case, the NE MX-5 is coming, and when it does, we can be certain Mazda’s engineers will have done everything possible to keep it within the boundaries set by its predecessors.

Basically, a 1.7-tonne, battery-laden roadster isn’t on the cards, which should keep traditionalists happy for up to another decade, if the model’s historic timelines are anything to go on.