Mazda MX-5 Superlight Concept Official Photos and Details

Mazda will have an attractive booth next week at the Frankfurt Auto Show as the company will showcase its latest contraption, the one-off MX-5 Superlight Concept. The two-seater speedster is based on the facelifted version of the MX-5 but comes with a wide array of enhancements that quickly gain our attention.

The first thing you’ll notice when looking at the car is the lack of a windscreen. Together with several other lightweight parts, the elimination of a windscreen was necessary to reduce the final weight of the car and thus, help the standard 1.8-liter engine sourced from the production model to achieve better performance figures.

"I've dreamed of building a Mazda MX-5 with this kind of radical form for a long time," says Peter Birtwhistle, Mazda Motor Europe's Chief Designer, according to Carscoop. "Now that weight reduction has become a dominant factor in automotive development, the time is ripe for it. We show how lightweight a car today can be."

Additionally, engineers working at Mazda's European R&D centre in Oberursel, Germany, removed the retractable top and its frame, and installed some newly-developed rollover bars fitted with LED brake lights instead.

Interiors have been “customized” as well, with the concept car coming with no air conditioning or other parts that might add extra weight. However, there are the same instruments as on the production MX-5 model plus a new starter button made of lightweight plastic.

Powering the 995 kilos car is Mazda’s 1.8-liter engine that generates 126 horsepower and is mated to a five-speed manual transmission. Thanks to these settings, the Superlight concept sprints from 0 to 100 km/h in 8.9 seconds.

Here are a few technical specifications (the full list of details will be released next week at Frankfurt):

• Engine: MZR 1.8-litre petrol
• Max. power: 126 PS (93 kW) at 6,500 rpm
• Max. torque: 167 Nm at 4,500 rpm
• Transmission: 5-speed manual
• Front/rear suspension: Double wishbone/Multi-link
• Damper (front/rear): Bilstein monotube
• Tire size: 205/45 R17
• Brake type (front/rear): Ventilated discs/Solid discs
• Brake diameter (front/rear): 300/280 mm
• Acceleration 0-100 km/h: 8.9 s
• Fuel consumption (combined): 6.3 l/100km (37.3 mpg)
• CO2 emissions (combined): 150 g/km
• Min. kerb weight (without driver): 995 kg

autoevolution will be attending the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show, so stay tuned for some real up close and personal shots of these vehicles, as well as for first-hand details of the motorized contraptions.