Tom Matano, Mazda MX-5 Designer & ‘Father’, Dies At 77

Tsutomu "Tom" Matano, designer of the iconic first-gen (chassis code: NA) Mazda MX-5 (Miata), died last weekend at the age of 77.

Tom Matano, designer of the original first generation (chassis code: NA) Mazda Miata – better known to us Malaysians as the Mazda MX-5 – has died.

Matano was 77 years old and his death last weekend on Sept 20 was confirmed by Miata Reunion – an organisation in which designer Matano was a big supporter and patron of himself – with the San Francisco hospital where he was treated in. The cause of death was not revealed.

Matano’s legacy now lives on in not just the MX-5 mentioned, but also through the third-gen (chassis code: FD) Mazda RX-7 sports coupe. Surprisingly, Matano had also reportedly ‘contributed’ to the design of the third-gen (chassis code: E36) BMW 3 Series.

Matano in his early days with one of his earliest designs. (Image: The Autopian)

Born Tsutomu “Tom” Matano on Oct 7, 1947, in Nagasaki, Japan, the renowned Japanese auto designer was an engineering graduate first from Tokyo’s Seikei University in 1969. He then moved to California in 1970 to study design at the Art Center School of Design in Pasadena.

After graduating again as a designer in 1974, he then landed a job in Detroit with General Motors where the automaker later placed him in Australia to work for Holden Design. There, had a hand in designing the GM Holden Torana and created touring car liveries too.

Matano departed for Germany in 1977 where he joined BMW in Munich. Whilst there, he held various design positions and was tasked with various design duties, the latter even included involvement in styling the E36-gen BMW 3 Series noted prior.

Matano truly made a name for himself through the first-gen (NA) Mazda MX-5 (Miata) pictured.

Since then, the MX-5 (Miata) nameplate has spawned four generations and sold in the millions.

However, Matano truly made a name for himself beginning in 1983 when he joined Mazda and was installed as executive vice president of Mazda Research and Development of Mazda North America – a position he held until 1999.

It was here that Matano teamed up with renowned American auto journalist Bob Hall to birth the MX-5 (Miata) lightweight open-top sportscar. Said creation spanned four generations and sold in the millions, quickly became a modern motoring icon too.

Matano then served as executive designer of Mazda Motor Corp. in Japan from 1999 until his ‘retirement’ in 2002. Prior to his exit though, Matano was still able to churn out another arguably iconic design in the third-gen (FD) RX-7 Rotary-powered sports coupe.

Unlike the original MX-5 (Miata) detailed, the FD-gen RX7 was a commercial flop at first. Instead, this sports coupe’s Rotary-powered performance took some time to become the cult classic and hot collector car that is today.

Before retiring to become an educator, Matano led Mazda's design arm and created another cult icon in the Rotary-powered third-gen (FD) Mazda RX7 sports coupe.

In retirement, Matano didn’t sit idle either as he had also become the Executive Director of the Academy of Art University’s School of Industrial Design in San Francisco since 2002, and vice-president of design at Next Autoworks since 2008.

Additionally, Matano even ‘moonlighted’ as an auto journalist by joining the Western Automotive Journalist (WAJ) community earlier this year. Lastly, Matano even served as guest judge at the annual Pebble Beach Concours.

Tom Matano with another iconic design of his - the third-gen (FD) Mazda RX-7. (Image: Autoweek)

A commercial flop at first, the rotary-powered FD-gen RX-7 took some time before becoming a cult favourite and hot collector car today.

Matano arguably left his mark on the automotive world through his work, as well as a lasting impression by being so active in the car community that he helped create. Matano often attended car events, spoked to fans and autographing their cars.

Matano undoubtedly loved what he did, and the joy it brought people. Certainly, we agree with the sentiment on how he is the key reason why, as many MX-5 (Miata) enthusiasts put it, “Miata Is Always The Answer.”