Tom Matano, Designer Of The Original Mazda MX-5, Has Died

Tsutomo ‘Tom’ Matano, the Japanese designer who led the styling of the original NA Mazda MX-5 as well as the RX-7, has died at the age of 77.

Born in 1947 in Nagasaki, Matano studied engineering in Japan before moving to the United States in 1970. It was here that he went on to study design at California’s ArtCenter College of Design, a school that counts a staggering number of respected automotive stylists among its alumni.

After stints working at General Motors in the US and Australia, and then at BMW in Germany, Matano returned to the US and joined Mazda’s North American division in 1983, eventually becoming its executive designer as well as director of North American operations.

1983, the year Matano joined Mazda, was also the year the company signed off on a new two-seater sports car drawing heavy inspiration from the British and Italian roadsters of the 1950s and ’60s. After several years of concepts and proposals being put forward, it was a car featuring a classic front-engined, rear-drive layout and a friendly, well-proportioned design rounded off by pop-up headlights was chosen as the production model. That design came from a team led by Matano, and that car became the first MX-5.

Soon afterwards, the Californian design studio that Matano worked in put forward a proposal for a bigger sports car, the third generation of the rotary-powered RX-7. Once again, the American proposal was chosen over ones from Japan and Europe, and the resulting FD RX-7 updated the car for the curve-obsessed 1990s, becoming one of the most iconic performance cars of the era in the process.

Matano retired in 2002, but his enthusiasm for the sports cars he helped create never dimmed, making regular appearances at MX-5 gatherings and fan events for the remainder of his life. 

An instant hit thanks in no small part to his styling, the MX-5 would go on to become the world’s best-selling sports car, a car with near-universal appeal and a core part of Mazda’s range to this day. The FD RX-7, meanwhile, has undeniably attained the status of classic thanks to its revvy rotary engine and gorgeous styling. Neither would have happened the way they did without Matano’s input, and the legacy he leaves behind for car enthusiasts is undeniable.