Design study of small battery-packed coupe flashed at Mazda conference.

EVER considered a world in which the MX-5 sports car runs with electric?

Mazda apparently is giving thought to just that moment.

In a presentation from Japan last night to give a glimpse at what it's planning for the future – which, basically, sums up as ‘more electric cars’ - it has shown a fantastic-looking Vision Study Model concept car, which may hint at how the world’s most successful roadster could look if weaned off petrol and went to batteries.

Roadster? Okay, actually the concept is a coupe, with Lamborghini-style butterfly doors.

Yet Mazda seemed to be pressing home a point when it displayed the images of its creation, seen here, alongside the current (ND) and previous (NA, NB, NC) MX-5s.

The company has also previously said that it's working on an electric sports car, but also always added that going down that road would present formidable engineering challenges and bring some trade-offs that could hurt its long-standing core traits of litheness, simplicity and lightness. Batteries add weight. Going electric also means no more manual gearbox.

There have been no more details forthcoming from its presentation in Tokyo, whose primary objective was to impress that it is spending $16 billion on product planning for 2030 and beyond.

Mazda continues to espouse philosophy is that no one solution fits all needs. Accordingly, it intends to offer a broad portfolio of solutions beyond pure battery.

However, even though one project ongoing is to improve internal combustion engine efficiency, the company has nonetheless also raised its sales target for electric vehicles to up to 40 percent of its total global sales by 2030. Its previous EV sales target was 25 percent by then.

The strategy laid out last night encompasses three phases. We’re already in the first.

It says it will ramp up the electrification of its line up, but that doesn't mean going all-electric for all models. It means the rollout of more PHEV cars, such as the CX-60 coming to New Zealand next year.

It is also intent on delivering range-extender EVs. The best known of those is the upcoming MX-30 R-EV, which will see the return of a rotary engine to the Mazda lineup, as a generator to give the small-battery crossover a longer touring range.

Between 2025 and 2027, it intends a 'transition to electrification.’ Beyond 2027 and into 2030, the EV lineup will expand rapidly, and Mazda says that it has signed multiple agreements with partners to develop the batteries and electric motors it will need by then.

It's also ramping up safety improvements and has made a Volvo-like promise that aims for: "Zero fatal accidents caused by any new Mazda by 2040."