The MX5 was of course not the first sports car to be
manufactured by Mazda, but it was the first to use a more
traditional engine design. (The preceding Cosmo coupe
and RX7 sports cars used rotary internal-combustion engines). With the MX5, Mazda proved to the other big car manufacturers
of the world that small, relatively cheap sportscars could
be built in large numbers again - and most importantly
at a profit.