In a story published by Mazda design head Masashi Nakayama says that the Iconic SP was always designed with a future production car in mind.

Mazda hasn’t had a pure sports car outside of the MX-5 Miata in ages; the RX-8 feels like an ancient relic at this point. So it was a big deal when the company showed off its gorgeous Iconic SP concept at the 2023 Japan Mobility Show.

I t's now been over a year since the Mazda Iconic SP concept left our mouths agape at the 2023 Japan Mobility Show, the sexy rotary-electric sports coupe previewing what we hoped

This is the first time we’ve heard Mazda commit to building the Iconic SP, along with a tentative timeline, though the signs were there The first hint came during the concept’