Upcoming ND updates, and maybe an NE?

General Discussion Forums MX-5 Chat
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I found this on Facebook. Some proposed updates to the ND, and the next possibility for an NE?
I commented thus:

“I’m glad I’ve got an ND2! Because MX5 futures look to be all downhill from here. The ND3 proposals are minimal over the ND2 but to me the front end doesn’t look as good; there’s something odd about the shape of that grill and the black grill with yellow bodywork emphasises that oddness. Maybe it’ll look OK in darker body colour? I hope it doesn’t have a turbo - that would spoil the purity of the car and turn it into a hot hatch drive-alike.
As for the NE, it will almost certainly be electric, and that’s no lightweight sports car in the spirit of MX5s to date. Perhaps it’s time to call it by another name as it will not be a spiritual successor to the ND.”

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I think it look’s nice in yellow the grill is OK. Don’t like the wheels. It’s about time we have had to many drab colours.

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don’t like this mind you i don’t like nd’s either and as for an electric mx5 they can stick that where the sun don’t shine :crazy_face:

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The key will be what they do with the powertrain from here. For whatever reason Mazda haven’t fitted the SkyactiveX engine to the MX5, maybe doing that will be enough on the emissions front in the next NE or a heavily facelifted ND. Or maybe go hybrid, but there’s little evidence of Mazda going hybrid unless you count the odd Mazda2 experiment based on the Toyota. Electric seems too soon, I believe Mazda only offer one electric car in the UK and I suspect it would be quite an engineering challenge to get that motor into an MX5-sized platform particularly the ND which was never designed for it.

My bet is that Mazda buy some time by giving the ND a second set of revisions in 2024 including the SkyactiveX engine (which is v. efficient by all accounts). That will buy them time to finish developing a platform to allow hybrid and then electric powertrains in the NE, starting around 2026.

Just my 0.02.

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It won’t be a NE.

NE was the internal Mazda reference to the Abarth 124 Spyder. NF was the internal reference for the Fiat 124 Spyder. The acronyms refer to a platform family, not necessarily sequential development.

For instance, the platform with a D prefix refers to the sub compact FWD, which started with the 1986 Mazda 121. Currently, the DJ, DK, DL, DM and DR are in use. There has never been a DN, DO, DP or DQ platform.

The next all new MX5 will be the NG. NE won’t be reused as it refers to a former model.

Mazda has filed between 2019-2021 various patents on mild hybrids, many of which feature a MX5-like vehicle (though maybe don’t read too much into the actual drawings). eg

I hypothesized a while ago that the basic ND platform will be life extended by use of a mild hybrid. A mild hybrid is the only way a petrol MX5 can remain on the European markets, including the UK, beyond 2030. There will be two versions offered; a conventional petrol car, with a small capacity turbo motor, and a hybrid. The hybrid will be auto only and a bit heavier with less storage space. From 2030, Europe will only get the hybrid, and hat might be enough for Mazda to keep a presence in the market. There is sufficient uncertainty in other markets as to when conventional ICE will be outlawed. ie. the US will likely still have conventional MX5s sold after 2030, albeit an increasingly aged platform, but likely with literally no competition.

Mazda will reserve development of a EV MX5 until technological progress in battery design can be sufficiently progressed to meet weight goals. That development won’t be driven by the MX5; it doesn’t sell enough. But they will be looking at Toyota etc. An EV only MX5 will actually make a RWD MX5 a lot easier than now, in terms of platforms, as EV architecture is a lot more flexible than ICE. You can place the motor, the mass, whereaver you like. ie. MG, like others, has incorporated the battery into the Cyberster chassis, so while the car is quite heavy, the COG is very low, and likely, like the MG4, they have achieved 50-50 weight distribution. By that time, around 2032-33, Mazda will have redefined what the MX5 is all about (ie. getting away from the gearbox experience, unless they implement Toyota’s fake gear change).

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The SkyActiv-X does what it says on the tin, but I don’t think it would suit an MX-5 as it is a much lazier kind of engine and makes even stranger noises than the SkyActiv-G. Of course, they could tune it differently and change the throttle response for the MX-5.

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I’d be quite happy if it looked like that - the large grille suggests cooling for an engine!

I suspect we’ll get an MX-30-esque powertrain, with wankel and electric, before they go full electric.

Whilst I don’t “want” an electric MX5, I’d rather that than no MX5 at all.

(and some of us drive turbo MX5’s, they still drive like MX5’s, just with more power!)

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There is the route that Toyota are developing. Mazda may go the same way Hydrogen gas . That is better then Electric car’s. Less weight

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Sadly, it takes far more electricity to produce hydrogen for a mile of driving a combustion car, than to simply use the electricity directly in an EV.

I’m hoping that hybrid, even mild with a small battery, will keep a revised ND going until battery efficiency increases enough to have a light weight 200mile MX5. An electric MX5 is inevitable, but maybe we can delay it until it’s a reasonable weight electric MX5!

I don’t think it would tempt me out of my weekend use NA, but I appreciate some people wish to commute \ daily an MX5. There are many ways to enjoy MX5 ownership, and we should celebrate all of them - not just our personal tastes!

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