 Manufactured at Mazda's Hiroshima plant, the MX-5 debuted in 1989 at the Chicago Auto Show and was conceived and executed under a tightly focused design credo, , meaning "oneness of horse and rider".Widely noted for its small, light, technologically modern, dynamically balanced and minimally complex design, the MX-5 is the spiritual successor to 1950s and '60s Italian and British sports cars, prominently the Lotus Elan.Generations were internally designated with a two-letter code, beginning with the first generation, the NA.