Miata Mailing List: February 1994, Message #205



     


   From: sasaki@mosk.semicon.sony.co.jp
Subject: Re: Eunos Roadster
   Date: Mon, 14 Feb 1994 01:04:31 -0500


Sean Farquharson wrote:
> FAQ when complete, but.... The Eunos Roadster? What is it? Is it
> what the original miata was called when releaseed in Japan? What's the
> Whole story? Are there nifty Eunos acessories available in Japan that we
> can't get for the miata? And What the heck does MIATA mean anyhow??

The story is ...

MIATA is called Eunos Roadster here in Japan.  I don't know what 'Eunos'
means, but it's a name of one of Mazda's sales channels in Japan.
The Eunos channel was created at the same time when Eunos Roadster was 
introduced in Japan (September 1989.  YES, it was three months later than
MIATA was introduced in the U.S.).  Mazda was very agressive at that
time, and decided to have more sales channels to sell more cars.  
I suppose that the name Eunos Roadster was given to MIATA to make the
channel's name popular in Japan.  And it WAS a BIG success.

I like the name MIATA much more than the name Eunos Roadster.  Eunos 
Roadster has Eunos emblem at it's nose (ugly!) and center caps of wheels.
It has 'EUNOS' and 'Roadster' emblems at the tail instead of 'MAZDA' and
'MX-5 MIATA'.  It doesn't have MAZDA sticker at the front bumper.

Besides that, there are very little difference between those two.  But,
here in Japan, so called V-special I/II and S-special are available.  
V-special's have tan leather interior, wood steering wheel, shift knob,
brake handle, BRG or black color.  V-special II has a tan top and polished 
aluminum wheels.  S-special has stronger suspension and an LSD.

Some other limited editions are available once in a while.  For example,
S-limited had red leather interior, black exterior, and gold BBS wheels.
J-2 limited (now available) has sun burst yellow color and special seats,
etc. 

							Takeshi SASAKI
							Sony Corp. 
							Tokyo, JAPAN