Mazda MX-5 is Japan’s Car of the Year 2015!



The fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 has added another major accolade as it won the 2015-2016 Japanese Car of the Year award. This is the second consecutive year the Hiroshima-based automaker won Japan’s most prestigious title, after bagging the crown jewel with the Mazda2 last year.

Competition this year certainly wasn’t easy, with runner up (also a JDM favourite) Honda S660 trailing just 41 votes behind. Meanwhile, the BMW 2-Series finished in third place, and also obtained Import Car of the Year award for this year. Looking at the scale of things, all the top three contenders are some really fun-to-drive cars!

During the award ceremony, Mazda’s Vice President – also in charge of product planning and head of the company’s Skyactiv technology R&D – Kiyoshi Fujiwara said, “We went through some tough times during the financial crisis and 2011 earthquake, but we stuck to our founding principles and created a winning formula. We think the jurors’ response to our MX-5 shows that sports cars are making a strong comeback in Japan. This award means a lot to our development team.”

The previous winners of Japan’s COTY include the Toyota Prius, Honda CR-Z, Nissan Leaf, Mazda CX-5 and the Volkswagen Golf. The Golf was the first ever non-Japanese make to walk home with the award.

Find out what we thought about the Mazda2 and Mazda MX-5!