The Chevrolet Corvette is one of the cars most synonymous with American car culture, and for good reason. It’s one that has been a source of inspiration for other niche automakers, too, most notably Japanese coachbuilder Mitsuoka, which styled the Rockstar after the C2 generation Corvette brilliantly. That mini C2 was actually built on the bones of the Mazda MX-5 Miata, but after a few years on the market, the Rockstar seems to be disappearing. Or at least it seems it’s about to be replaced.
Mitsuoka has just dropped its second teaser for a new sports car debuting at the end of this year, and if our intuition is right, it seems a new Rockstar is on the way and that it will be styled after the original C1 Corvette.
Two-Tone Paint And Chrome Headlights Give It Away
Front quarter view of a 1960 Chevrolet Corvette in red and whiteGeneral Motors
The second teaser for the new Mitsuoka model finally gives us more to go on than just the sketchwork initially shown, and there are some clear hints that the coachbuilder has looked to the C1 ‘Vette for inspiration. The teaser shows the front fender of the sports car under a semi-transparent sheet, revealing a few key details.
First and most obvious is the two-tone paintwork, with a red primary color offset by white on the rear portion of the fender and flowing into the door. That is the iconic livery the C1 (above) is known for, and while this Mitsuoka model doesn’t have the white portion integrating into the wheel well, it’s close enough to see the inspiration.
Mitsuoka TeaserMitsuoka
But there’s another detail barely visible that confirms our suspicions. A headlight surround is barely visible on the far left of the teaser above, which appears to be a chrome ring surrounding a sealed-beam style headlight. The current Rockstar has small headlights, but this looks far bigger, and the chrome ring is another signature element of the C1 Corvette and other American cars of the era. From the previous teaser sketch (above), we know the headlights will stand proud with the hood dipping between them, which is yet another element present in the C1’s design.
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It’s both greener and more colorful than before, too.
Still A Mazda Miata At Heart
While those appear to be all the visible details, keen Miata fans will identify the ND Mazda Sports car elements immediately. Mitsuoka might build a lot of custom bodywork, but it also doesn’t replace everything unnecessarily, and a few key elements remain unchanged. The shape of the wheel arch, for example, definitely looks like it’s from the Miata, but the positioning is slightly off, as you can see in the image comparison below. But what that same comparison shows pretty obviously is the forward door shut line is a dead ringer for the Miata’s, which is as close to confirmation as we’ll get at this stage.
C1-Style Mitsuoka Rockstar TeaserMitsuoka2026 Mazda MX-5 Miata Front Fender Side ViewMazda
CarBuzz Insights – Why It Matters
Coachbuilding has been considered a bit of a dead art, but while that’s not strictly true, it’s generally limited to crazy expensive, limited supply specials out of the reach of normal enthusiasts. Mitsuoka is doing everything it can to keep that art alive. While some of its creations are utterly wild, models like the Dodge Challenger-inspired M55, K5 Blazer-inspired Buddy built on RAV4 underpinnings, or the Miata-based Rockstar prove that heritage-inspired customization has a place in reasonably affordable models. The biggest tragedy is that Mitsuoka doesn’t sell its cars in the US, as a new Rockstar with C1 Corvette looks would be brilliant to see.
