Mazda is still forging ahead with the fifth-generation of its iconic sports car. CarBuzz has just uncovered a Mazda patent for a chassis that is unmistakably MX-5 Miata. This newest patent isn’t the first we’ve found for the new car, but it shows how far along the company is in development.
It also shows just how complicated it is to try and make a compact lightweight car meet modern safety rules.
New Car Needs A Whole New Structure
Mazda Sports Car Chassis Patent Fig 2 overlayCarBuzz/Mazda
This patent covers the front structure of the car. It includes the front firewall as well as the footwell and the frame extensions that go from there to the nose of the car.
The problem Mazda is trying to solve is how the cowl and the back of the subframe interface. Current designs have the front subframe getting larger as you move rearward to transmit load to the chassis. But that setup is large and interferes with the water drains and cowl-mounted parts like the brake booster and wipers.
Mazda’s fix is tough to visualize, but the basics are that Mazda would start by casting the various frame sections instead of stamping. Yes, this is a unibody car, but parts that act solely as structure are often called frame sections. Mazda does the same in this patent filing.
The new sections would be more like a sheet of paper than a square tube. They would be cast with ribs to add the necessary strength, but would ultimately be much flatter and wider instead of taller. From the bottom, the new design looks like the Eiffel Tower, though the frame parts would expand into a U-shape instead of a full square like the tower.
Will This Be The Lambo Door Miata?
Mazda patent drawingsMazda / CarBuzz
Parts like the brake booster would effectively go inside the U, or as Mazda describes it, the “apron-shaped” section. Packaging and strength solved in one.
Some of these patent drawings may look familiar, and that’s because we have seen them before. Mazda used versions of the same drawings for its patents that showed butterfly doors and a new way to reinforce the wheel arch.
Butterfly-style doors would be a first for the MX-5. Mazda showed a similar door on the Iconic SP concept it revealed at the Tokyo auto show in 2023. Is this another sign that Mazda could be bringing that stunner to market? Probably not, but it won’t stop us from dreaming.
CarBuzz Insight – Why This Matters:
2025 Mazda MX-5 Miata RFIan Wright/CarBuzz/Valnet
A double-wishbone front suspension and a cowl without a roof panel in a front-engine rear-drive car make it clear that this is the next MX-5. Mazda has made incredible leaps to keep the tiny sports car not just tiny but also ultra light generation after generation, and it’s ideas like these new frame sections that make it possible.
Like we said the last time, there are three big possibilities here. 1: Mazda is planning to make the next MX-5 look like the Iconic SP. 2: The SP will be built with a normal driveline, not a rotary range extender. 3: Both cars are coming and will share a chassis, just like the NC generation and RX-8.
Naturally, we’re hoping for that third one. Whatever the result, though, it’s clear that it will still be a serious Mazda sports car. Just don’t expect to see a result for a few more years.
Patent filings do not guarantee the use of such technology in future vehicles and are often used exclusively as a means of protecting intellectual property. Such a filing cannot be construed as confirmation of production intent.
Source: US Patent & Trademark Office
