Miata roadster rewarded
Vehicle is Japan's Car of the Year
Mazda Motor Corp.'s Roadster, the world's best-selling two-seat sports car known as the Miata MX-5 outside Japan, won Japan's 2005-06 Car of the Year award, topping the Lexus GS luxury sedan made by Toyota Motor Corp.
Mazda is counting on sales of the Roadster to spur it to a second year of record earnings in the 12 months ending March 2006. The automaker, a third owned by Ford Motor Co., has won three such awards since 1980.
We've developed this vehicle to be a symbol of our brand, Hirotaka Kanazawa, an executive officer at Hiroshima, Japan-based Mazda, said in his speech after the award was presented in Tokyo.
The award was given by a committee made up of auto-industry writers and consultants.
The Roadster's third new design in seven years went on sale in Japan in August starting at 2.2 million yen ($18,760), less than half the price of Porsche AG's Boxster sports car, which starts at 5.7 million yen.
Mazda, aiming to sell 40,000 Roadsters a year, has built 734,220 units of the model since 1989.
