The Zoom-Zoom company promised to introduce the CX-70 in 2023 but we're approaching the end of the year, and yet the new SUV is still a no-show. In fact, don't hold your breath on seeing it soon since the RWD-based family hauler has been pushed back until sometime next year. Speaking with Automotive News, Mazda North America CEO Tom Donnelly announced the model will be launched in 2024. The original plan was to have it on sale by late 2023.

Much like the CX-90 is offered with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, Donnelly confirmed the CX-70 is also getting an electrified setup. As a refresher, the CX-90 PHEV has a 2.5-liter gasoline engine working together with an electric motor for a total system output of 323 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque delivered to an all-wheel-drive system. It boasts an eight-speed automatic with a wet clutch and has a 14.8-kWh battery pack good for an EPA-estimated 25 miles of electric range.

The newcomer is expected to come strictly with two rows of seats whereas the CX-90 can accommodate six or seven people, depending on configuration. Contrary to popular belief, the CX-70 isn't going to be smaller. In an official document published back in February to complement the FY March 2023 Third Quarter Financial Results Briefing, the Japanese brand said the CX-70 will be a "two-row model with the same body [as the CX-90]." You can access the document on Mazda's website.In related news, Donnelly said an electric vehicle will be launched in North America in 2025, following the discontinuation of the slow-selling MX-30 after the 2023 model year. He mentioned it's going to use the name of an existing product, suggesting it'll probably be an SUV. Down the line, the head honcho mentioned additional EVs could be launched depending on customer demand.

Donnelly is confident that Mazda will sell more than 350,000 units this year in North America where he projects the company will move 500,000 vehicles by 2025. Market share has already reached 2.3 percent, the highest ever since the automaker entered the U.S. back in 1960. The CX-90 is off to a great start as the CEO says it's already outselling the CX-9, which bows out after the 2023 model year. September has been the best month thus far for the newcomer, with 4,700 people getting behind the wheel of the CX-90.

Mazda takes itself too seriously these days to make cars like the old Mazdaspeed 3. In its words, such cars are "childish." But maybe it's found youth in its heart again, because Mazda has shown off performance road car concepts by its new factory race team. One of them's a track-ready, turbocharged Mazda3, and the odds of it making production look strong.

Mazda revealed the cars at this year's Tokyo Auto Salon, where it also confirmed the development of a new Wankel rotary sports car engine. For the show, factory race team Mazda Spirit Racing built a Mazda3 and MX-5 that Japanese Nostalgic Car reports tout revised suspension and aerodynamics, making them viable for track use. Seeing as Mazdaspeed was phased out over the 2010s, this makes these cars effectively the successors to Mazdaspeeds of yore.

Mazda told me the concepts are meant to represent track-ready daily drivers, and that both cars bring new engines to the table. The MX-5 uses the 2.0-liter four-cylinder from its Super Taikyu ST-Q endurance racing prototype, which runs on the same synthetic fuel as Toyota's GR Corolla-powered GR86. Mazda has previously mentioned future-proofing historic MX-5s with engines tuned for these synthetic fuels, so this seems to be a development on that front.

For the Mazda3 on the other hand, Mazda told me it's considering a new turbo engine with a performance emphasis—and that this isn't the 2.5-liter turbo already on sale in North America. In the company's words, the engine would offer "a more nimble and powerful driving experience." Sounds like a Subaru WRX-killer to me.

Mazda couldn't comment on the possibility of Mazda Spirit Racing-branded performance parts, or the odds of the brand making it to the United States. However, it stated it "would like to consider expansions in the future," and that more info is on the way soon. Still, it seems at least both concepts are bound for production, as reported by Motor1. Even if neither comes to the U.S., it'll rekindle interest in the Mazda3 platform as a performance car. Should the aftermarket follow suit, it'll be a win regardless.

With all the hype about Mazda's rotary engine, the Japanese automaker is fond of talking about its future, often offering statements that will excite Zoom-Zoom fans everywhere. We all know that it's only a matter of time (and interest) before Mazda launches its rotary-powered sports car, but there's another segment that the automaker is seriously considering re-entering - the pickup truck segment.

In an interview with Car and Driver, Mazda CEO Masahiro Moro said that the company has received requests from its data partners for a small pickup truck. Admittedly, Moro knows Mazda has a problem with that request - it doesn't have a platform for a pickup. It was in 2009 when Mazda last sold a pickup truck in America, and even back then, the B-Series trucks were merely Mazda-badged Ford Ranger pickups. That was over 15 years ago, but Moro is still open to using the same strategy as before.

That's not to say that Mazda doesn't already have a pickup truck on offer. It does have the Mazda BT-50, sold in Australia and some parts of Asia as a midsize truck that rivals the Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, and Isuzu D-Max. However, the D-Max-based BT-50 is more of an Isuzu rather than a Mazda, with only its styling being attributed to the Hiroshima-based automaker.

If Mazda is serious about returning to the pickup segment in the US, it needs to be manufactured in the US, not only to curb the current US government tariffs against imported goods but also to skirt around the long-running, dreaded chicken tax. This should be in similar vein to Hyundai partnering with GM for an American truck.

Moro isn't just interested in offering a small pickup truck. The Japanese head honcho is also interested in offering a sporty sedan, a segment that he thinks has shrunk but is still popular with fans. "We've got a really beautiful concept. We already have this idea. We are able to install a six-cylinder, but marketability remains a concern," Moro told C&D.

With Mazda on the cusp of revealing its newly developed combustion engine in the next-generation CX-5, there are several possibilities in this regard. The SkyActiv-Z gasoline engine is promising, with an inline-six version to be offered after the four-pot hits the market. We'll know more concrete details as they come, but right now, Mazda's future portfolio of a rotary-engined sports car, a sporty sedan, and possibly a pickup truck sounds like a dream.

Tsutomu “Tom” Matano, the designer behind such legendary Mazda sports cars as the Miata and FD RX-7, passed away on September 20. He was 76 years old.

Matano is known to many enthusiasts as “the Father of the Miata,” having been instrumental in its creation alongside Bob Hall. But Matano’s career spanned multiple automakers. After graduating from Tokyo’s Seikei University in 1969 with an engineering degree, he moved to California to study design at the Art Center School of Design in Pasadena before taking a job with General Motors in 1974. A short while later, Matano was on the move again, to work for Holden in Australia where he created liveries for the brand’s touring cars, among other duties, before taking a job with BMW in Munich and contributing to the development of the E36 3 Series.

But, of course, it was Matano’s tenure at Mazda where he truly made a name for himself and inspired generations of enthusiasts and people in the trade. In 1983, he started as Mazda North America’s Chief Designer, and over the next 20 years, he would ascend in the company until eventually managing Mazda’s global design group. In that time, he brought cars such as the original NA and second-generation NB Miata, as well as the third-generation FD RX-7, to life. By the conclusion of his tenure at Mazda in 2002, he had also become the Executive Director of the Academy of Art University’s School of Industrial Design in San Francisco.

However, a big part of what makes Matano’s loss so profound for the automotive community is how active he was in it, right up until the end of his life. Matano was a regular fixture at public events, especially among Miata fans. Besides an outpouring of love and condolences, social media and enthusiast forums have been filled with stories and pictures over the last two days; warm memories of Matano engaging with the people inspired by his life’s work.

Rest in peace, Tom—you will indeed be missed, but your legacy will doubtlessly live on. I’ll leave us with a quote from an interview he did with Auto & Design in 2023 about his philosophy that speaks to me, particularly as someone who grew up wanting to design cars as he did:

“We must start over from the human. From the users’ real needs, above all, from offering them solutions in a ‘warm’ and in some ways ’empathetic’ way. I remember that, when I drew the lines of one of the Mazdas I worked on, the RX-7 FD, I was expressly thinking of an athletic but not muscular body, as if it needed to be washed gently. I achieved a result that inspired affection: the owners locked it in the garage with a smile on their faces. Here’s my point, design should never lose this intent.”

To many, the Mazda MX-5 Miata is the perfect sports car. Small, light and agile, with enough power and rear-wheel-drive playfulness to have fun, but not so much that you can't go full throttle without wildly doing triple digits. It's reliable, affordable and even fairly livable as a daily driver, so long as you're not too big, or need to bring too many other things or companions along with you. And these days, being a convertible puts it in rarefied territory that's increasingly reserved for expensive sports cars for the wealthy.

At just $31,065 to start, it's also essentially tied as the cheapest sports car you can buy new, with the 2025 Toyota GR86 undercutting it by just $30. For all these reasons and more, the Mazda Miata is one of the best-selling sports cars. And after a slow start earlier this year, the Miata has rebounded so well that only four other sports cars have outsold its tally so far this year of 7,299 units. That's a pretty impressive achievement on its own, but if you want to see which sports cars are having an even better year, keep reading.

Toyota GR86: 8,107 units
It makes sense why the Toyota GR86 outsells the Miata. It's got more power, more space and more practicality, all things that are likely to help ease someone into buying a two-door car. And for the more hardcore enthusiasts, the extra rigidity that comes with having a hardtop and the ability to carry your extra set of wheels and tires to the track are other advantages over the Miata. So far this year, the GR86 has sold about 800 more units than the Miata, and that doesn't even count its nearly identical twin, the slower-selling Subaru BRZ. If you add those sales in, you're over 10,000 units for the twins combined.

It also helps that the "Toyobaru" is fresher, with this generation starting production for the 2022 model year, compared to this generation of Miata that's basically a decade old at this point, even if it has gotten some nice improvements along the way. For those that don't appreciate the open-top experience or the slightly lighter curb weight of the Miata, the GR86 is certainly the next best choice. It's also really the only other truly affordable sports car you can buy new these days, with its $31,000 starting price.

Mercedes CLE: 8,760 units
Moving up to some more expensive stuff, the Mercedes-Benz CLE is a little on the softer side, but the AMG variant, the CLE 53, is a serious performance car. It has a strong and hybridized inline-six turbo engine and a 0-60 time that puts it alongside many more powerful sports cars. But thanks to its variety of variants (three so far with more likely on the horizon), and offerings of both a coupe and convertible, it has wider appeal, which is likely fueling the sales success of the CLE, at least partially.

This one's a bit of a pleasant surprise too, considering all the headwinds Mercedes has been battling recently with regard to the unpopularity of many of their other models. Thankfully, it sounds like they nailed the recipe for the CLE. Striking good looks, solid performance, and enough comfort and luxury to sell the casual coupe and convertible buyers that would be turned off by a hardcore sports car. Mercedes could use a win these days, so I'm sure they're breathing a sign of relief over the solid CLE sales.

Chevrolet Corvette: 17,718 units
Speaking of variety, the Corvette's also got it in spades, which is partly why America's sports car has continued to sell in such impressive numbers despite being on sale for over five years already, believe it or not. This year's sales are likely juiced by the first deliveries of the new ZR1, a bargain hypercar really, with a crazy 1,064 hp, a crazier 2.2 second 0-60 mph time, and an actual tested top speed of 233 mph. All for just $185,395. That's a lot of money, but for the performance you're getting, that's peanuts compared to the millions that some cars with similar specs will charge. It's no wonder people are lining up in droves to get their hands on it. The Z06 is also still magical even a few years into production now, and also a great bargain.

The 2026 models arriving now also get an interior restyle, ditching the dividing wall of buttons for a bigger screen and a more normal design, which should keep sales cruising nicely along for the rest of the year and into the next one. And while not quite as cheap as it was five years ago, the standard Corvette Stingray still gives you exotic mid-engine looks, incredible performance with a sub-3 second 0-60 time and a great V8 sound, all for just $71,995 to start. This bread-and-butter model is likely the main source of sales still and the one that deserves most of the credit for the Corvette's continued sales success.

Ford Mustang: 32,818 units
It should come as no surprise that the Mustang is outselling the Miata and is the best-selling sports car in America again this year. Its enduring formula of lots of power, style and comfort for not much money has always resonated with Americans and many others around the world. Sadly, it's resonating less and less these days. Even though the Mustang is still the sports car sales king, its sales have taken a real nosedive. With a total of just 32,818 units through September and the lion's share of sales already finished as people bought their summer toys, the Mustang is on track to have its worst sales year ever, and last year's 47,212 units were already the previous all-time low.

Something about the Mustang recipe is falling out of favor fast, and it seems that the demise of the Camaro and the V8 Mopar cars haven't brought exiled muscle car fans into Ford showrooms the way Ford had hoped. To pour salt in the wound, the often-criticized electric Mustang Mach-E crossover is now selling double the amount of the gas Mustang. Still, convincing over 30,000 people to go for a two-door coupe in 2025 is an impressive feat, and one that all the other sports car makers on this list are likely envious they can't pull off as well. Long live the two-door Mustang.