This is what the first Miata from 1989 looked like.

History of the Mazda Miata

With the unveiling of the 2016 Mazda Miata coming soon, we thought it would be fun to take a look back at where the Miata got its start. America’s favorite roadster is 25 years old and it has come a long way from its birth in 1989. The Miata has come a long way but it’s interesting to see how it became what  the vehicle it is today. Let’s take a look at the history of the Mazda Miata and what we can look forward to in its future.

This is second generation of the Mazda Miata.

The Mazda Miata was officially unveiled in February 1989 at the Chicago Auto Show. An automotive journalist, Bob Hall, convinced high up Mazda executives that Mazda needs an affordable sports car. The US Mazda team put together three different prototypes that daily drivers would actually want to drive. The model that won was a front-engine/front drive model. The initial model built in 1986 was called the P729 but was eventually named Miata which means “reward” or “prize”. Then in 1989 the Miata hit the Chicago Auto Show here Mazda gauged how much shoppers were willing to pay for this brand new roadster. In the end Mazda put the base price at $13,800.

This is the current Mazda Miata but the 2016 edition it coming soon!

The demand for the Miata was much higher than Mazda imagined and they sold about 40,000 miatas annual for the first few years. The approval rating was an outstanding 85-90 percent of the participants liked the car. This greatly exceeded what normally happens in this type of study. As more and more Miatas hit the road, the demand continued to grow. It will be interesting to see where the 2016 Mazda Miata takes this popular model.

Check back soon to see the big reveal of the 2016 Mazda Miata. We have a feeling that it will be just as successful as that first unveiling in Chicago 25 years ago. If you want to see what else Mazda has been creating, visit Mazda of Lodi. We have plenty of great new and used vehicles to test drive.