The Mazda MX-5 Miata turns 35 this year, and the automaker is planning to celebrate the milestone with a special edition. Miata Program Manager Shigeki Saito confirmed at the Karuizawa Meeting 2024 in late May that the automaker will build a 35th Anniversary Edition model.
However, unlike the 30th Anniversary Edition car, Mazda is not limiting production to a specific number of units. Instead, according to Saito, Mazda will offer the 35th AE model for a period of time, and anyone who orders the variant when it becomes available will get one, but it’s unclear whether that applies to every market or just Japan.
What can customers expect? The model will likely come fully equipped with Recaro seats, unique wheels, upgraded brakes, a revised suspension, and other tweaks. We suspect the car will come with the same 181-horsepower 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine under the hood. It will also wear a special color that sounds like it could be green. Saito hinted that he would need a gold pen to sign the new variant, but we’ll have to wait to find out. The previous AE model wore Racing Orange and had orange interior accents.
Mazda limited the 2019 30th Anniversary Edition model to just 3,000 units worldwide, of which 500 ended up in America. That model started at $34,995, but the 35th Edition could cost closer to $40,000 when it goes on sale, which should be sometime later this year.
Engine1 has reached out to Mazda to confirm Saito’s comments, which he made at 48:50 in the video above. We’ll be sure to update this article if we hear back.