Mitsuoka Himiko will present Mazda MX-5 in retro style

26 February 2018

Who Morgan or Jaguar on the Japanese units?

A cursory look at photos of this car, it may seem that we have before us Morgan coupe or Jaguar bygone era. But on closer inspection, it becomes clear that the "hardware" of modern here: door handles, mirrors, not to mention the cabin. It is for the interior most likely to get a donor Mazda MX-5. But outside this you can not guess!

A remake of the legendary Japanese Roadster has been the company Mitsuoka. In Japan it is fairly wide known as produces several models in the style of British cars of the 50s and 60s years. Some of them have unprepossessing appearance, as modern machines (and it is on their basis construct these "replica") have completely different proportions, so the round lights and a big chrome grille is not always possible to successfully integrate the appearance of the original.

But Mitsuoka Himiko is a pleasant exception. In the new generation, the manufacturer used the latest version of the Mazda MX-5. However, in this case, he not only set a new body panel, but also substantially redrew the chassis. The front axle has been moved forward, bringing the wheelbase has increased with a modest 2 315 mm up to a truly giant 2 910 mm (that's the modern car business class). The length of the body jumped from 3 to 4 915 580 mm.

But from the point of view of the technical stuffing the original was not changed. Under the long hood is installed a-liter gasoline engine series Skyactiv-G. Its impact is estimated at 131 horsepower and 150 N·m. Buyers can choose between a six-speed "mechanics" or automatic transmission with the same number of speeds.

The manufacturer has rated their work: the base price of Mitsuoka Himiko in Japan will be 4 978 800 yen, that is approximately 2 610 000 rubles at the current exchange rate. The Mazda MX-5 costs about half the price.