A Lighter Mazda MX-5?
With a weight of 1058 kg, the MX-5 is one of the lightest cars on the market. This doesn't stop Mazda from wanting to shed even more weight on the car.
According to Autocar, the director of the MX-5 project, Nobuhiro Yamamoto, is satisfied with the size of the little roadster. However, it could always be lighter. To achieve this, the next logical step would be carbon fibre.
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This material is currently pretty expensive: it is only used as a construction material on the most expensive high-performance vehicles like Ferraris and Lamborghinis. However, Mazda and a few other automakers are currently working on making it more affordable. In a few years, it's possible that the little Hiroshima roadster will get carbon fibre components. We still don't know if this means a simple carbon hood and trunk, or a more significant integration.
This news is not only interesting for the MX-5, but also for the rest of Mazda's lineup: in the future, the Mazda3, CX-5 and CX-9 could also benefit from a carbon-fibre weight reduction diet.
