Limited-Edition MX-5 Among Mazda’s 100th Birthday Special Editions

Mazda has gone all nostalgic with a range of models clothed to mark the firm turning 100 this year. The Japanese market will get special versions of everything from the 2 hatchback to the CX-8 SUV, all dressed in white paint over a burgundy red interior.

The highlight for us is the MX-5, which comes as both RF hard-top and traditional (lighter) soft-top variants. Despite production of the dressed-up car lasting until March 2021, just 100 examples will make it to the UK, in whatever split the first 100 buyers decide upon. The RF, despite dynamic compromises, outsells the soft-top by a long way, so the canvas-lidded special edition cars will be a rare sight indeed.

These limited-run cars will have special wheel centre caps, special badging and embossed headrests. All will share the same beautiful red upholstery and exterior colour.

Mazda says the models were due to be revealed at the Geneva Motor Show but shelved the plans until now because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, it has launched them digitally as the order books open in Japan.

They hark back to the creation of the R360 in 1960; a cutesy little number with cream panels and a burgundy convertible roof. We know 1960 wasn’t 100 years ago, but the company that became Mazda was begun in 1920 as a foundry, then a machinery-maker, then a producer of three-wheeled trucks, and eventually a car-maker. The R360 was its first passenger automobile.

Japan will get 100th Anniversary editions of the 2, 3, 6, CX-3, CX-30, CX-5, CX-8 and both versions of the MX-5. Production will last 12 months. The UK is only scheduled to get 100 MX-5s, 100 CX-30s and 100 Mazda3s. Final UK spec and pricing will be decided later in the year once the UK business has gauged demand.

Mazda UK Managing Director, Jeremy Thomson, said:

“Mazda Corporation has created these special models as a token of appreciation for the customers who have supported Mazda through the years. We’ll be proud to have special versions of the MX-5 Convertible, CX-30 and Mazda3 in our UK showrooms later this year.

“UK buyers have always loved special edition MX-5s so I’m sure that with its distinctive cherry roof and burgundy interior, the 100th Anniversary Special Edition Convertible will be very popular.”