JAPANESE automobile journal Finest Automotive has reported that there’s “vital potential” that Toyota and Mazda are co-developing the following era GR86 and MX-5 sports activities automobile collectively.
In accordance with the outlet, Toyota and Mazda signed a memorandum of understanding on a partnership in 2015, which developed right into a capital alliance with cross-shareholding in 2017, with Mazda dispatching a number of engineers to Toyota Metropolis to work on the undertaking.
Toyota has reportedly outlaid vital funds to assessment the present MX-5 platform to make it suitable with each the following era GR86 and MX-5 – each of which is able to retain their rear-wheel drive configuration.
It’s understood Toyota has minimize ties with Subaru – with which it developed the primary two generations of GR86 and BRZ – which means the latter might develop into extinct come 2028.
Manufacturing of the following GR86 and MX-5 is anticipated to happen at Mazda’s Hiroshima facility which Forbes journal suggests will likely be extensively upgraded to deal with the rise in manufacturing.
The outlet suggests the mannequin will likely be in-built two guises, with the Mazda MX-5 retaining its two-seat convertible physique model and the Toyota GR86 being ‘stretched’ to once more accommodate a 2+2 association beneath a tough roof.
Importantly for followers of the GR86 and MX-5 it’s doubtless the duo won’t share drivelines. Toyota goals to suit the following era GR86 with a hybridised 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol with upwards of 150kW whereas Mazda will doubtless shift to a 2.5-litre four-cylinder petrol with lean-burn (Skyactiv-Z) expertise.
That shift means the “MX-5” platform will once more be supplied with a alternative of two engines, relying on model, in a lot the identical approach it did when paired with Abarth a decade in the past. Then, Mazda supplied a 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol engine in its MX-5 whereas Abarth bought its 124 Spider with a Fiat-sourced turbocharged 1.4-litre four-cylinder petrol.
As with Abarth, it appears collaboration between producers is one of the simplest ways ahead in guaranteeing low-volume petrol-powered sports activities automobiles survive in fashionable occasions.
As Forbes places it, “What Toyota and Mazda are doing is the perfect and smartest strategy to preserve their roadsters alive”. We couldn’t agree extra.
Sit up for extra info on the third-generation Toyota GR86 and NE-series Mazda MX-5 forward of their debut in mid-2028.
