Now, it appears that one of those contingency plans was for a fully-electric roadster, based on the latest published patents.
Electric Miata Will Blaze Its Own Trail
European patents reveal a potential Mazda roadster with a unique battery outline. Instead of just throwing a sled wedge of batteries under the floor of the passenger space in a large flat bank of cells (as is the common way nowadays for EVs), the electric Miata would package batteries down the traditional transmission tunnel space, along with two more battery units on either side of a rear-mounted electric motor, likely for weight balancing.
That would mean the MX-5 would stay a rear-drive roadster, but another version in the patent images shows a front-mounted motor configuration, as well, which could help an electric Miata provide similar handling dynamics to the combustion car on offer today.
The Path Required For An Electric Miata To Happen
Another Mazda exec, CTO Ryuichi Umeshita, recently told Car and Driver that it would effectively take a full-on ban on combustion engines outright in major markets like the US for Mazda to ever consider only selling a fully-electric roadster. Otherwise, he said, the lightweight character of the car is its primary focus during development, and that doesn't jibe with today's current heavy battery technology.
2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata Top Down Red Front Angled ViewMazda
Sales of the current Miata have been steady over this generation's lifetime, with a slight 16 percent drop year-over-year from 2023 to 2024, which totaled 7,489 units moved last year. So far, in 2025, Mazda has sold 1,765 MX-5s thus far, but that was before tariffs were implemented, so it could be a bad outlook going forward for the rest of the year. Despite that, Miata enthusiasts shouldn't worry too much.
We Have Nothing To Fear
A couple of weeks ago, Mazda design boss Masashi Nakayama promised that the fifth-generation Mazda Miata would get a bigger 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine, weigh less than the current car, and come in under one ton of weight, or 2,200 pounds, and it will still be offered with a manual transmission. That should keep everybody happy for a few more years, right? Well, in case it doesn't, Mazda has a backup plan for an all-electric version.
The current Miata is about 130 pounds over one ton in weight, with a 2.0-liter four-cylinder gas unit good for 181 hp and 151 lb-ft of torque, with a manual or automatic gearbox option, and power sent through the rear wheels exclusively. There's also the folding-hardtop RF version, still, which is even heavier.
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