Mazda Southern Africa has quietly removed the MX-5 roadster from its local line-up, but interestingly chosen to retain the RF variant of the little rear-wheel-drive sportscar.
We asked the local arm of the Japanese automaker for the rationale behind the decision to kill off the six-speed manual MX-5 roadster, which was priced at R441 700, and a spokesperson told us that Mazda’s policy was “not to keep two body styles or even two transmissions in its production line if the market sells low volumes”.
The MX-5 (which grabbed the World Car of the Year title for 2016) has often found itself on our list of worst-selling vehicles each month, including our latest table from October. In fact, combining roadster and RF figures, just 62 units of the MX-5 have been registered in South Africa in the first ten months of 2017.
And the reason for preferring the RF over the roadster? Well, Mazda SA says feedback from “public and dealers” helped it make the choice.
So, the MX-5 RF (which stands for “Retractable Fastback”) soldiers on locally, powered by the same 118 kW/200 N.m 2,0-litre naturally aspirated petrol engine. But, priced at R532 800, this model (pictured below) is available only with a six-speed automatic transmission…
