Interesting because everything but the engine on the Miata is platform specific, designed and engineered by a much smaller company than Toyota with higher unit cost and higher R&D costs.
I get what you're saying (apart from the bit in bold, which is pure conjecture on your part - they sell hundreds of thousands of Miatas globally and the R&D will easily have paid for itself hundreds of times over by now), but don't forget that the MX-5 still isn't as much car as the Sciaru -
that was my point. They're both fairly specialist cars which are more expensive than higher-performance stuff you can find elsewhere. The Sciaru is
more expensive, but then it also has more power, a roof, more seats, more equipment... so it's
obviously going to be more expensive.
The next one's goal is to be smaller, lighter, and even cheaper than the one we have now, going to show that it isn't the engineering causing the FR-S to be so expensive.
It remains to be seen whether the next MX-5 will genuinely be cheaper or not, but you can bet that Mazda will have much greater economies of scale on the new engine than Subaru/Toyota will ever have with the Sciaru's flat four.
Assuming the MX-5 will use the Skyactiv we think it will, that engine will almost certainly be dropped in everything from the Mazda2 to the Mazda6, depending on region.
I think you're being needlessly cynical on the price. It's a purpose designed car (like the MX-5), but it also offers proportionally more of various different things, and can justify that price from a variety of factors.
And I'll say again - you're still getting it cheaper there than we are here. If Toyota/Subaru are "cashing in on the hype" then it's in Europe, not the US.
