Flyin’ Miata to Stop Selling LS Swapped Cars Over Emissions Regulations
Turnkey V8-powered cars from Flyin’ Miata are no more as companies are feeling the pressure from the EPA.
For a number of years, Flyin’ Miata has made and sold turnkey LS-swapped MX-5s, quickly developing a reputation for being among the very best in that regard. However, in recent months, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has cracked down hard on a handful of companies that allegedly violate emissions standards by selling things like diesel defeat devices, a bad sign for the future of the automotive tuning community. Now, Flyin’ Miata is seemingly getting ahead of things by announcing that it will no longer sell turnkey LS-swapped MX-5 examples.
“While Flyin’ Miata has an extensive history of building LSx-converted Miatas from 2008-2018 and churning out some of the most exciting Miatas to grace streets, autocrosses, tracks, and hill climbs all over the world, we have discontinued our V8 conversion service and are no longer offering turn-key builds or conversion parts for V-8 builds,” the company said in a statement. “With emissions regulations becoming increasingly stringent and government entities seemingly eager to slap big fines on businesses that sell ’emissions defeat devices,’ we have made the difficult decision to lay our V8 program to rest. We are now totally focused on designing and selling emissions-compliant upgrade parts from our standard parts catalog to suit every year of Miata”
Of course, turnkey V8-powered Miatas were just a small part of the company’s business, as it sells a variety of other performance upgrades for the small roadster, but this is still disappointing news. However, those that covet such a machine can still build one themselves, obviously, or seek out an alternative from a company like V8 Roadsters.
Moving forward, Flyin’ Miata will continue to offer various emissions-compliant upgrades for the MX-5, including everything from turbos to brakes and chassis components. Ultimately, it’s easy to understand why such a move is being made, particularly as the weight of the government is coming down on those that choose to toe the line in terms of emissions regulations, but that doesn’t make this news go down very easily, regardless.
Photos: Flyin’ Miata
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