Miata Mailing List: February 1997, Message #24
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   From: (none)

Subject: Tom Matano on the Miata and RX-7

   Date: (none)



      I visited Tom Matano, Vice President for Research 

and Development at Mazda (in Irvine).  As many of you 

know, Tom was a leader in the design effort for the 

Miata.  (Mark Jordan still works with Tom, but most of 

the others on the early design team are gone.)



     I asked Tom about the prospects for a supercharged 

or turbocharged Miata from Mazda, with a factory 

warranty.  He implied that the prospects for this are very 

dim.  The issues from their standpoint are not so much 

insurance related as related to costs of going through the 

elaborate certification process.  What Mazda would need 

to do is far more elaborate and costly than what Norm 

Garrett has to do to get the aftermarket supercharger 

certification.  Of course other companies have multiple 

engine/transmission combinations that are certified for 

sale in the U.S.  I infer from Tom's remarks that Mazda, 

as a small company relative to the rest of the industry, is 

really feeling the pinch.  Perhaps for this reason, Tom 

seemed surprisingly optimistic about Ford's investment 

in Mazda.



    We  discussed the RX-7, which Tom says is still in 

production in Japan.  The low sales here in 1994 and 

1995 did not justify the costs of making the structural 

changes needed to meet the U.S. side impact standards 

for 1997.  Tom mentioned that structural changes needed 

would have meant changes to the gas tank 

shape/location, for example.  It just wasn't feasible from 

a cost standpoint.



    While I was in Tom's office, he took a phone mail 

message from Jay Lamm.  (I am a Jay Lamm fan!) Jay 

essentially congratulated Tom for his role in the redesign 

of the 97 Corvette!  That brought some knowing smiles ....   

I think it's a shame that Tom didn't design the BACK end 

of the 97 Corvette as well!   [:-)  [:-)

     More when I get a chance.

John Emerson,   92 Sunburst Yellow A

Middlebury, Vermont