Higher price for Alfa's 'MX-5'
29 August 2012
- New Alfa sports car based on next MX-5
- Will have different engines and cost more
- Expected on sale in 2015
The new Alfa Spider sports car will have a different design, different engines and be more expensive than the next Mazda MX–5, with which it will share a platform.
Speaking to What Car? at the Moscow motor show, Mazda boss Takashi Yamanouchi said that plans for the joint venture to produce two small, rear-wheel-drive roadsters were forging ahead, but that the two cars were unlikely to be priced or positioned to compete against each other.
Both the new Alfa Romeo Spider and next MX–5 are expected to go on sale in 2015.
The Mazda will be powered by a 1.3-litre turbo engine, producing around 200bhp and is likely to cost around the same as the current model. It's likely that Alfa's version will have engines from the Fiat group, with more power and a higher price. Both will be built in Mazda's Japanese factory though.
Yamanouchi also admitted that future alliances for Mazda with Fiat could also be on the cards 'if the roadster is a success'. He also conceded that smaller-scale alliances such as sharing engine technology – Skyactiv engines for Fiats and Twinair for Mazdas – could be possible.
By Chas Hallett
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