Mazda officially unveiled the MX-5 Roadster Coupe this morning at the British International Motor Show, and it has the makings of a big winner. If you're willing to accept the weight penalty for the retractable hardtop -- the Roadster Coupe weighs 81.5 pounds more than the standard MX-5 Roadster -- you'll be hard-pressed to find a four-season roadster this good.

While the world was pre-occupied with the fun and razzmatazz of the Chicago Show last week, Mazda had a small celebration party to mark the production of the 800,000th Roadster.

The Mazda Roadster Prestige Edition is based on the Roadster RS RHT and Roadster VS RHT known as the MX-5 on non-Japanese markets.

When it was launched back in 1989, Mazda\342\200\231s MX-5 revolutionized the sports car industry by providing a modernized version of the classic \342\200\23160s British sports car. Now in its fourth generation, the MX-5 has been around for quite some time, and, unfortunately, those first models have gotten quite old and are now facing body and structural problems. Rather than sending these modern-day MGs to the scrap heap, British kit-car maker Westfield has come up with a very clever solution.

So the MX-5 has grown. It is about two inches longer than the previous model and an inch and a half wider. Its wheelbase has been stretched 2.5 inches. Thankfully, the car still feels small and any weight increase is nominal. Give Mazda whatever credit you think it deserves for this engineering feat, but if ever there was a time to shed a few of the car\342\200\231s 2,500 pounds, this was it.

The Saturn Sky is a \223very credible all-American alternative to the made-in-Japan [Mazda] Miata,\224 says Thane Peterson of Business Week. Peterson praises the \223aggressive\224 exterior design of the car, which he says looks \223stronger\224 than the Pontiac Solstice.

Yes, the other countries still seem to get all the best stuff. A factory-assembled MX-5 package will be offered by Mazda to its domestic market, complete with an aftermarket suspension and LSD.

Mazda will be showing an MX-5 variant with folding metal roof at next month's British International Motor Show

Mazda recently put together a new set of TV ads to showcase its next-generation MX-5 Miata roadster. Apparently, the MX-5 has gotten tougher, and these \223Bad Attitude\224 spots attempt to convey that idea.