The Mazda MX-5 has been tremendously popular with car enthusiasts around the world and will soon reach the 1 million mark in global production volume. While the fourth-generation soft-top model honed the pure driving pleasure of a lightweight sports car, the hardtop model, with its exquisite fastback styling and a new open-top feel, has a personality all its own.

By the end of the third-generation MX-5's model life, the retractable hardtop model accounted for more than half of all MX-5s sold and was popular with those who wanted all-season comfort and utility.

As a member of the MX-5 family, the fourth-generation retractable hardtop model embodies the core value of "Lots of fun," which the MX-5 has consistently offered since 1989. At the same time it features a new and unique design, and lets occupants enjoy a new kind of open-air driving feel. Therefore, our challenge was to create a name that would more accurately define this new, more premium experience we envision will attract a new kind of buyer yet preserve the unchanging values that MX-5 fans have admired since the inception of the model.

The result was Mazda MX-5 RF (Retractable Fastback), a name that denotes the model's retractable hardtop and fastback styling, and will surely resonate with enthusiasts and drivers around the world.