The MX-5, released as the MX-5 Miata in North America and the Roadster in Japan, is a lightweight two-seater roadster with a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout. Manufactured by Mazda in Hiroshima, the model debuted in 1989 at the Chicago Auto Show. The MX-5 was conceived as a small roadster with light weight and minimal mechanical complexity limited only by legal and safety requirements; technologically modern, but philosophically descending from small British and Italian roadsters of the 1960s such as the Triumph Spitfire, MG MGB, Fiat 124 Sport Spider, Alfa Romeo Spider, and Lotus Elan.