I just learned how the Miata came about... it wasn't because Mazda wanted to make an incredible sports car to rival the previous generation of British sportscars. Nope. A Motor Trend journalist in the 70s had to convince a Mazda engineer to make it!

In the late ‘70s, Bob Hall embarked on a new career as an automotive journalist at Motor Trend. 

As a teenager, he spent a lot of time in Japan, giving him the opportunity to learn and speak Japanese.

For his whole life, Hall was surrounded by interesting cars. His father was a ''car guy'' of the highest order, running European machines, including MG, Triumph, Austin-Healey and Alfa Romeo – the purest forms of the light and simple open-top sports car. 

But the era Hall found himself in as a young writer was killing off these types of vehicles

Hall witnessed the shift in Japanese cars firsthand and came to admire the way Mazda persisted with developing sport models powered by the rotary engine. He couldn’t help but think how nice it would be to have a car that would blend Japanese technology and reliability with the fun experience that the British sports cars provided.

In April 1979, Hall had the opportunity to visit the Mazda headquarters in Hiroshima. He was able to tell Kenichi Yamamoto, then head of Mazda Research and Development, about his dream automobile, explaining how easy it would be to create a convertible 323 which had a front-engine, rear-wheel drive layout (which Ford made into the Probe)

Following the meeting, Hall had dinner with Yamamoto, but there was no mention of the lightweight sports car. He didn’t give up, though, and suggested Yamamoto should try driving a Triumph Spitfire one day. Eventually, the Japanese engineer drove the Spitfire on the picturesque roads around Hakone. The rest, as they say, is history...

https://www.mazdausa.com/discover/origin-story-of-mazda-mx-5-miata