Yahoo Autos Mazda, Please Build This Carbon-Fiber-Roofed MX-5 Miata Concept
Mazda's mighty MX-5 Miata is wearing a lightweight cap and fancy workout gear in what the company calls the Drop-Head Coupe concept.
The removable hard top on this freshly disclosed concept, which is similar in profile to millions of Miata hardtop models before it, is made from carbon fiber. Never mind that the term "drophead coupe" technically describes a softtop convertible sans hard top (as demonstrated by the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe). In Mazda terms, the Drop-Head is the bridge between the Club trim (with its upgraded Bilstein dampers and limited-slip differential) and the track-only Cup, which is built for the MX-5 Cup racing series.
This Mazda Miata Drop-Head concept also features red tow rings on both ends, revised aero skirts on all sides, a set of 16-inch Rays forged wheels, a small decklid spoiler, and some wavy matte-black graphics.
Underneath, Mazda reinforced the suspension bushings and upgraded the clutch and flywheel. The limited-slip differential and 2.0-liter inline-four, burnished with a 26-hp power increase for the 2019 model (up to 181 horsepower), remain unchanged. Mazda also fiddled with the interior trim, but the automaker is not showing us yet-only these two photos of the exterior, painted in Soul Red Crystal metallic. No other specs, aside from the brief information we translated from Japanese on its home-country website, are available. What we do know is that the Miata's basic goodness-those honest laurels that again landed it on our 10Best Cars list-could only get better with these upgrades.
For now, the Drop-Head is only a demo car. It's headed next month to the Tokyo Auto Salon, Japan's version of SEMA. A U.S. representative told Car and Driver that Mazda will be reading your comments to decide whether to import the new parts. So stop reading this and start posting happy feelings below.
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