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AUTOMOTIVE

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Compiled by John O'Dell, Times staff writer

Designing People: The fact that the Mazda Miata roadster was designed in Irvine has become part of automotive lore.

But the designers toiling in the concrete tilt-up building on Redhill Avenue have done a few more cars since the two-seater was introduced in 1989. Most recently, the 1995 Mazda Protege and the top-of-the-line Mazda Millenia were penned in Irvine.

The Millenia is the same car that Mazda was going to use to launch its quasi-independent U.S. luxury nameplate, Amati, until economic troubles in Japan canceled the project.

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