Mazda Isn’t Waiting To Develop Its First Electric Miata

The future of the Mazda MX-5 Miata roadster is very much still up in the air. Recent comments from company execs have confirmed the next-gen model will retain a gas engine and a manual transmission, but that doesn’t mean the automaker hasn’t been working on other versions of the car in the event of a needed contingency. 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.

Related

The Most Thrills For $33k: 2025 Mazda Miata Club Vs. A Bunch Of Used Sports Cars

The Mazda Miata is always the answer. Or is it?

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.

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.

Related

How Mazda’s Iconic Sports Car Has Evolved Over The Last 20 Years

The Mazda MX-5 has come a long way since 2005.

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.

Related

A Miata With A Turbocharged Superbike Engine Sounds Wonderfully Unholy

It’s one of the most delicous engine swaps we’ve seen in a while.

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.

Source: CarThrottle