Well, it seems that the internet has been lit on fire by a set of renderings that have been posted to the Miata.net forums. While the rendering is rather attractive, what has set this apart from any other is the belief that it comes directly from a Mazda->ke53 USA product engineer.

Now the rendering was posted by someone with the name “SethOfDeath” but the photo has a watermark that says Seth Elson. Jalopnik grabbed word of this and did some digging. According to a LinkedIn account, there is a Seth Elson who lives in Orange County California that is an engineer at Mazda North America. Jalops also found a twitter account named SethOfDeath that is based in Orange County and has a few references to Mazda as well. It hasn’t been confirmed that this is really from a Mazda employee, but all signs are pointing in that direction.

Jalopnik reached out to Mazda about these renders but only received, "another nice rendering. You fanatics."

Judging by the renders here and the photos and spy shots->ke166 we have so far, this rendering does look very close to the right proportions and shape. My only concern is the that front end seems a bit to sculpted to match the spy car.

Whatever the case, we will know what the new ND Miata->ke1185 looks like in just a few hours when it is revealed live.

Jalopnik

Click past the jump to read more about the future Mazda MX-5.0}

It seems like this is the best look at what the new Miata might look like. If this was truly done and posted by a Mazda employee, it could be a legitimate rendering of the new machine.

That said, this could also be a simple grab for attention or an intentional misleading image to take the pressure of the real car. Whatever the case, we will know the truth in a few short hours. If this render is of the new car, I feel like Seth will be receiving an employment termination letter. I would hate to see that happen, so I am hoping that this is nothing more than a nice rendering he did in his spare time.

Why It Matters

The new 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata is an all-new next-generation version of the world's best-selling roadster. Mazda is aiming for a much lower weight than the current car, but they have given us precious little information beyond that.

There are rumors that the new car with a have a turbocharged powerplant, and that horsepower targets are as high as 200 ponies. With a few hundred pounds cut from the overall weight and a boost in power by as much as 35 horsepower, this new machine could be the best and fastest Miata ever shipped from the factory.