Lots of people claim to be father of the Mazda MX5. The story I like most came from Shigharu Hiraiwa, original project leader. The task fell to him to sell the MX5 concept to the then formidable three-man Mazda main board.
You have to feel for companies like Volkswagen. No sooner had they launched the Golf Mk V, based as closely as it could be on the first Focus, then Ford came up with its even better second generation Focus.