The designer of the original Mazda MX-5, Tom Matano, has died

Tsutomu ‘Tom’ Matano, the designer of the original Mazda MX-5, has sadly passed away.

Born on 7 October 1947, the Japanese designer leaves behind an incredible legacy, most notably in the diminutive, perfect proportions and shape of the NA Mazda MX-5. Over 430,000 versions of that first generation roadster were sold, and the MX-5 went on to become the world’s best-selling roadster. More than a million of them have found homes since 1989 across four generations.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Tom Matano, the visionary designer behind icons like the Mazda MX-5 and FD RX-7,” said Mazda UK. “Tom believed cars should inspire joy and connection.

“Our thoughts are with his family, friends, and the entire Mazda community.

“Thank you, Tom, for creating cars that make us smile.”

Born in Nagasaki in 1947, Tom moved to the US in 1970 and began his work in the car world with General Motors in 1974. He then did stints at Holden Design in Australia, then for BMW in Germany in 1977, before landing at Mazda in 1983 as its chief designer.

Along with the design for that initial MX-5, Tom also sketched out the prettiest version of the RX-7 – the third-gen ‘FD’.

“Your initial design theme needs to be realised as a production design without losing the core essence that has endured the close scrutiny associated with product design and the manufacturing phase,” he said back in 2023 when discussing the challenges in designing a car.

“During my time, we were fortunate with the FD RX-7, NA/NB Miatas, MX-6, and Mazda3. Mazda’s great engineering team supports the design vision and works with us.”

And of his personal approach to design, Tom said: “I always design things truthfully to what they do and as simply as possible, based on proportion, attitude, light and shade to create a dynamic movement along carefully tuned visual weight distribution.

“You become the object you are designing and think of design from ‘inside the box’ instead of just looking at it from the ‘outside’.

“I call it the ‘Empathetic Design Method’.”

RIP, ‘MiataPapa’.