FRANKFURT SHOW: Mazda ‘missing fourth element of design'
Author: just-auto.com editorial team | 17 September 2009
'Petrolhead' and sports car enthusiast Ikuo Maeda wants to inject a fourth element into Mazda's design philosophy.
He's not sure what it is yet but the new head of Mazda design knows there's something missing.
"Our Nagara design shows emotion and passion," said Maeda who was chief designer on both the RX-8 and 2/Demio. The RX-8 shows the automaker can produce "alluring and sexy" cars while the 2 demonstrates "the lean, sharp element of the design," he said.
"We need to combine all these elements and add a fourth."
To do that, he will be drawing on the expertise of his design centres in both Europe and North America.
"Co-ordinating design globally is a big challenge since everything has to be engineered in Japan. It doesn't work to have the centres working on different designs of the same model so each studio will produce its own concepts," he said.
While Maeda agrees that the current line-up is "fine", he would love to add a sports car to rival Nissan's GT-R or the Porsche 911.
"We have the technical capability, but now is not the right time," said Maeda who drives a Lotus Elise at home in Japan and has previously owned a Mini Cooper and Alfa Romeo Guilietta.
The Superlight MX-5 concept unveiled at Frankfurt has no production future.
"It demonstrates the very simple soul of Mazda - a car that is fun to drive and simple," said Maeda. "It also helps to showcase lightweight technology which is increasingly important in the quest for lower emissions and better fuel economy."
He believes the advent of electric cars and other alternative powertrains will allow designers much greater freedom to change the proportion of vehicles.
"Personally, I don't like EVs, I love the sound of an engine and the smell of oil - I'm old fashioned like that, but now is a good time to be a stylist."
headlineauto
Sectors: Vehicle manufacturers, Vehicle manufacturing
Companies: Mazda, Nissan, Porsche, Lotus, Alfa
View next/previous articles
17 Sep 2009 -
Currently reading -
FRANKFURT SHOW: Mazda ‘missing fourth element of design'
17 Sep 2009 -
17 Sep 2009 -
Related research
The global outlook series on Automobile Dealers provides a collection of statistical anecdotes, market briefs, and concise summaries of research findings....
The last few months have underlined the importance of the OEM customer base of each supplier for the medium and long–term strategic success. The SupplierBusiness "Supplying OEM sourcing Profiles" provide guidance and insight on the strategic positio...
Related articles
THAILAND: Nissan sets 1m-by-2013 target for new baby
Nissan Motor launched its low-cost compact car in Thailand on Friday, and has set a global sales target of 1m units a year by 2013.
RUSSIA: Nissan to produce Murano at St Pete plant
Nissan plans to start producing the Nissan Murano SUV at its St Petersburg plant in early 2011, Fujio Hosaka, head of the firm's Russian manufacturing subsidiary, has said.
Read more on this hot issue
just-auto's Frankfurt Motor Show coverage
Given the current auto industry state of play, a slimmed down, eye-on-the-budget, Frankfurt motor show was expected, and so it proved. But, while visitor numbers were estimated off 25% to 750,000, several well-known Japanese brands (not including Mazda, which has long been popular in Germany) stayed away, BMW kept its tent folded and the lavish on-stand hospitality of some previous years was noticeably absent, the show was still the usual sprawl.
There are currently no comments on this article
Be the first to comment on this article