It can be quite dangerous to form opinions based on little more than a smattering of photographic images. However, Mazda has always retained a remarkable sense of ‘self’, displayed without arrogance, often whisking motoring and lifestyle journalists to unusual locations, to hear directly from its design team about their influences.
I can recall one such instance, in the early part of the New Millennium, when a handful of us were flown to Majorca to visit an ancient Moorish villa, where the natural light both inside and outside the structure bounced off fluid body-panels, allowing us to appreciate Mazda’s concept models, without an emphasis on marketing, or sales. It was an opportunity based on confidence and expressions of unparalleled beauty. No other mainstream carmaker has ever carried out a similar unpressured exercise.
Introduced in 2010, Mazda's unique KODO design philosophy and its ability to breathe vitality into the motorcar has been the driving force behind the multiple award-winning styling of the current Mazda range. Remember, these are motorcars; they could be equally refrigerators, or washing machines; consumer items controlled by functionality and purpose.
With the pleasure of ownership being a key principal of Mazda's Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030 long-term development plan, KODO design remains central to the company's desire to improve the brand constantly and push design quality into the realms of mainstream car-as-art-form.
Building on its past design successes, of which there have been many, the unveiling of the three latest Mazda concept vehicles showcases an unique elegance that encapsulates the next evolutionary stage of KODO design; the RX-VISION in 2015, and the 2017 VISION COUPE and KAI CONCEPT compact hatchback, the latter a design study incorporating strong visual clues as to the styling of the forthcoming all-new Mazda3.
This new vision retains the vitality of KODO design but now targets greater styling prestige, through the elegance and purity of a minimalist aesthetic, which removes all unnecessary elements. Inspired by the purest traditions of Japanese art and the beauty of space between objects, the foundation of future Mazda elegance will lie in dynamic proportion, a classical silhouette, allied to an artistic manipulation of light that relies on the uniquely hands-on approach of the company's designers and craftsmen.
Only through hundreds of hours of painstaking clay sculpting and painting work has it been possible to hone the perfect balance of tension, power and constantly changing reflections inherent in the muscular shoulders, elegant curves and sweeping, concave surfacing of the VISION COUPE concept.
Creating such controlled vitality, a form that is both beautiful and thoughtfully simple, demands immense degrees of time, discipline and craftsmanship. Yet, it is fundamental to the uniquely Japanese elegance of Mazda's next generation design vision, in which the ownership experience is further enriched by the presentation of the car as art.
Just do as I have done. Take a few moments to pore over the images. While tactility is an important aspect of appreciating beauty in material volume, Mazda proves that sensual imagery can be of standalone merit. Every single car it sells in the UK has benefited from KODO design elements and, when you look a little closer, you can see remarkable design consistency that is an equal to and often exceeds the standards set by supercar manufacturers, even though the end products are of less lofty aspirations. You see, it is not just words that can energise the human psyche, as artistic design can invariably play its part.
