Automotive Affairs's video: The History Of The Mazda MX-5 - Part 1 NA Miata Featuring: Demi Chalkias Automotive Affairs

The history of the Mazda MX-5 - Part 1/4 | featuring: Demi Chalkias Hello and welcome to 2022! We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, and that 2022 will be a great year for our planet! Let's start off this year by rewinding things back to 1989, and the launch of the first ever, production model of the Mazda MX-5 - affectionately known as the Miata. New car models are introduced every year, but very few go on to achieve cult like status! Thirty years ago, just such a car entered the marketplace, and it was called the Mazda MX-5 Miata. The idea for the MX-5 was actually given to Mazda by an American automotive journalist by the name of Bob Hall, who wrote for Motor Trend magazine. Hall, who spoke fluent Japanese, was having a discussion with Kenichi Yamamoto and Gai Arai, who headed the research and development department at Mazda. Yamamoto and Arai asked Hall, what kind of car Mazda should make in the future? Hall replied, a fun-to-drive roadster, just like the ones that the British auto manufacturers have been offering since the 1950’s, but with a big difference – make it reliable. Car companies are given “bright ideas” by auto journalists on a regular basis, but hardly anything is remembered by the following day, but Yamamoto and Arai took Hall’s advice seriously, and in 1982 work started on this concept. Seven years later, at the 1989 Chicago Auto Show, the world was introduced to the first production ready version of the Mazda MX-5 (NA) Miata, and it combined stunning looks with reliability, and the promise of topless fun in the summer – all for just under $20,000. In the 33 years since, the MX-5 has sold well over a million of these pretty Roadsters - and our presenter, Demi Chalkias, talks us through the very first one in this video! - Hope you like this video, please SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel, and also find us on Facebook and Instagram - thank you! - Video edited by, Fine Artist Maria: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2vwoa_J7Y0W0Ib9dwhu-TQ