Mazda Almost Gave Us A New RX-7 But Bailed During The Financial Crisis

Photo: Mazda

As much as we love the Mazda MX-5 Miata, it does have a couple of downsides. First, while it’s no Lotus Elise, it’s still not the easiest car to get in and out of. It’s also not the most spacious car out there, making it hard for tall drivers to physically fit inside. If Mazda had given us another RX-7, taller drivers could just buy one of those, but Mazda never did. Apparently, though, we actually would have gotten a new RX-7 if those bankers hadn’t ruined the world’s economy back in 2008.

Carspotting: Midtown Miata

Motor1 recently interviewed Nobuhiro Yamamoto, the former project manager for the current-generation MX-5 Miata, and during their conversation, Yamamoto explained that Mazda originally planned for the fourth-generation Miata to ride on the same platform as a new RX-7. Speaking through an interpreter, he told Motor1, “After the NC [Miata] was released in 2005, in 2007… I was put in charge of the new [front-engine, rear-drive] platform development. At that time, we weren’t looking at developing one car, we were looking at developing two cars, the MX-5 and an RX-7.”

It’s not clear whether the new RX-7 would have used a rotary engine or not, but at the time, Mazda was still building the RX-8, so it’s entirely plausible that it could have. We also don’t know how far Mazda got in the development process, but unfortunately for all enthusiasts around the world, once the house of cards that was the global financial system started to crumble, Mazda pulled the plug. In addition to pushing the launch of the ND Miata back several years, it also canceled the whole RX-7 project.

Did Mazda’s decision to focus on only one car possibly result in a better ND Miata? Maybe. Still, there could have been a new RX-7, and the fact that there isn’t makes us incredibly sad. Thanks for nothing, bankers. If you didn’t deserve jail time before, you definitely do now.