Has Mazda just filed a patent that will end the MX-5? It sure has | Opinion

In another very clear sign the end of the world is nigh, Mazda has filed a patent for an electric Mazda MX-5 it appears. It's devastating news for anybody who appreciates the perfection that is the MX-5 or indeed anybody who appreciates life at all. 

The patent, which is dated November 5, 2024, appears on the United States Patent and Trademark Office website and after a small amount of digging CarsGuide unearthed the plans for what appears to be an electric MX-5.

The discovery raises a lot of questions such as “Oh my god what are they thinking?”,  “Why? Why? Why?” and “I thought that the next generation MX-5 would have a petrol engine because that's what they told us, right?”.

It's true, they told us. Only just last month Mazda’s Chief Technical Officer Ryuichi Umeshita told Road & Track magazine that the fifth generation MX-5 would be powered by one of the company’s cutting edge Skyactive Z petrol engines. It would be a 2.5-litre four-cylinder and so super efficient it’d meet US and European emissions regulations using what the brand terms Lambda: 1 conditions. 

“If we go to Lambda: 1, then naturally power will go down,” Umeshita told Road & Track. “But in order to avoid that, we have defined the displacement to be 2.5 litres. So the power is very good, and the fuel economy will be very good.”

Umeshita even told the magazine the next gen MX-5 would have a manual gear box because they add a direct connection to the driving, which is what this little two-seater sportscars is all about — the feeling.

“Manual transmission has the direct feeling, the sense of Jinba Ittai,” he said. Jinba Ittai translates to “horse and rider as one” and this driver focus has been Mazda's mantra for years.

“It is key for the package, at least for the MX-5.”

The key! You heard him. So what’s going on? Has Mazda changed its mind? Has the car company, which appeared to be running the combustion gauntlet and boycotting EVs and doubling down on diesel and petrol, just backflipped and decided to start with the last car that should be electrified?

I know what you’re thinking and I agree: “We need to calm down, eat the kids’ remaining Easter eggs and think this through like grown ups.”

First, are we sure it's an MX-5 the patent refers to? The answer is no. A search through the 14 pages of patent documents filed by Mazda includes no mention of the word MX-5 or Miata as it’s referred to in the US.

So why do we think it’s the MX-5? Well, that’s because the diagrams are of a two-door, two seater sportscar with proportions extremely similar to the MX-5.

The patent itself focuses on the placement of batteries so as to ensure the balance of the vehicle remains favourable to good driving dynamics. Basically what we’re looking at is Mazda’s solution to how it can pack as many batteries into a small area (because the MX-5 is a little car) but in a way that doesn’t make the car handle badly.

If we’re serious for a second, it’s not surprising Mazda is looking at an electric MX-5, because as a business it needs to be planning for a world where it might be impossible for any combustion engine to pass ever-tightening emissions laws. 

Is it a good idea to EV-ify the MX-5? Nope, it’s a terrible idea in my opinion. It’s like Arnotts deciding to stop putting flavouring into Barbecue Shapes and expecting us to still eat them because it’s still the same Shape. Don’t get any ideas Arnotts.

That’s right, because even though electric motors can match and exceed the power and torque of combustion engines while providing even better acceleration, the MX-5 was never about power or torque nor acceleration. It doesn't have much of any of those things. It's a about the taste — the feeling.

It all makes sense when you open the door of an MX-5 and drop down into the driver’s seat and feel the cabin wrap itself around you. When you start the engine and feel how freely the engine revs under your right foot before sliding over to the brake. When you push the heavier-than-you’d-expect-clutch in with your left and then feel the little clunk as the shifter is pushed into first, add some revs, release the clutch and you’re away. Even before you drive 10m you and the MX-5 are already one. And that’s even before you’re flowing through bendy country roads with a silly smile on your face and the song of exploding petrol in your ears.

The current ND Mazda MX-5 has a 2.0-litre naturally aspirated engine making 135kW and 205Nm. The next generation NE will arrive by 2026 or 2027 and with a 2.5-litre engine and maybe a bit more grunt. The next generation could well be the best MX-5 ever made, but it could also be the last of the petrol powered before Mazda if forced to put these patent plans into action.  

An EV MX-5 could spell the end of the MX-5 altogether because without enthusiasts buying what is already a low-volume selling car Mazda would no longer have a business case to continue it.

Oh there's one last possibility that we could be wrong a bout all of this and that perhaps the patent is for a completely different future sportscar such as the Iconic SP which was unveiled by Mazda in 2023. Let's hope it is and that the MX-5 is left alone.