The new Fiat 124 Spider will debut later this year, and go on sale in international markets in 2016. It shares underpinnings with the Mazda MX-5 Miata.
“It will not be a rebadged Miata. We will have our own style, our own stamp on it. There is a ton of heritage behind that. I think that just kind of puts the bow on the showroom for us and fills it out completely,” said Jason Stoicevich, head of Fiat North America.
The Fiat 124 will feature a different engine from the one on the MX-5 Miata. It is likely that Fiat will use a 1.4-litre four cylinder engine for its convertible, rather than Mazda’s 2.0-litre unit. The 124 Spider will be built alongside the MX-5 Miata at the Japanese carmaker’s Hiroshima plant.