Mazda MX-5 Gets Power Hike With Japan-Only Special Edition

The 2025 edition of the Tokyo Auto Salon is well underway, which means we’re preparing for a few days of jealously staring at cool cars that will never be sold in the UK. Case in point: the Mazda Roadster 12R, a limited-edition version of the car we know as the Mazda MX-5.

It looks an awful lot like a production version of the tweaked MX-5 Mazda was parading at last year’s TAS to introduce its new Spirit Racing performance wing, and sure enough, plenty of Spirit Racing branding is present and correct on the 12R.

It’s based on the 2.0-litre MX-5, which is already making a healthy 181bhp from its 2.0-litre, naturally aspirated four-pot. Spirit Racing has tweaked the cylinder head, pistons, cams, intake and exhaust to lift that to 197bhp, making this one of the most powerful MX-5s ever sold. In fact, to our knowledge, it’s second only to the 201bhp, Australia-only SP version of the second-gen car. And that had a turbo.

Other changes for the 12R read like a who’s who of respected suppliers of performance parts: Rays TE37 forged wheels, Advan AD09 tyres, Brembo front brakes, adjustable Bilstein dampers, Recaro bucket seats, and a rorty Fujitsubo exhaust.

There are lashings of Alcantara in the interior, including on the steering wheel and six-speed manual gearknob, and it gets some subtle new aero including a neat little ducktail spoiler.

Mazda plans on building just 200 of these more focused MX-5s, all for the Japanese market, disappointingly. They’ll cost ¥7 million a pop, or around £36,000. That’s nearly twice what most versions of the MX-5 will run you in Japan, but because cars are so expensive in Europe, only a couple of grand more than a 2.0-litre MX-5 RF costs in Britain. Can you find it in your heart to build a few more and send them our way, Mazda?