Suddenly Everyone Wants A New Mazda MX-5

Considering it first came to market back in 2015, it’d be fair to assume the clock was ticking close to the end of the ND Mazda MX-5. However, despite being its eighth full year on sale, 2023’s sales figures suggest there’s plenty of life in the convertible yet.

In the US, the sports car saw a whopping sales rise of 45.4 per cent compared with 2022, totalling 8,937 units. Unsurprisingly, it was Mazda’s least-sold model in the US and fell some way shy of the best-seller, a crown held by the CX-5 at 153,808 shifted from dealer lots. Mind you, considering the boom in EVs and SUVs, it’s good to see interest in the ageing Miata is rising.

UK sales of the MX-5 didn’t have quite such a dramatic increase but still rose impressively compared with 2023 - totalling 1,647 compared with 1,361 the previous year, a 21 per cent rise. Mazda UK confirmed to Car Throttle that it was the sports car’s best performance in the UK since 2019, following on from a late 2018 model update.

With a refreshed version of the ND coming again early this year, we’ll be interested to see if another hike in sales is on the horizon. Its engine line-up will remain unchanged, with the 1.5- and 2.0-litre units still producing 130bhp and 182bhp respectively. However, for the first time since its 2015 introduction, the ND will get some noticeable design tweaks which alone could be enough to hook in existing owners.

Mechanical changes come in the form of a new asymmetric limited-slip differential which Mazda says should improve the MX-5's stability, with lane-keeping assist now added to keep its safety tech a little more up to date. Oh, and there’s a larger infotainment system with USB-C ports too. Exciting stuff.