← Japanese Oem Design Evolution
Mazda has issued the following press release:
The new show car season features four concepts from Mazda that express a new design language called Nagare, (pronounced na-ga-reh) developed by Mazda’s new global design director, Laurens van den Acker. The word Nagare means ’flow’ and ’the embodiment of movement’ in Japanese and applying it to car design involved analyzing motion itself and how forces like wind and water move in nature.
Now Nagare is coming to Europe with this season’s third all-new concept car, the Mazda Hakaze, which was designed at Mazda’s European Design Centre near Frankfurt, Germany. Mazda Hakaze is a compact crossover coupe with roadster feel. It combines the best attributes of three traditional types of cars. Part of its roof is removable, which gives a feel similar to a roadster; it is agile and fun to drive like a compact hatchback, and it has a high hip point and interior functionality like a compact SUV.
Exterior design – the compact crossover coupe with roadster feel
Mazda Hakaze has very compact proportions. At 4,420 mm, it is roughly the same length (+15 mm) as the Mazda3 hatchback ’ which ensures agile, sporty handling ’ but is wider (1,890 mm, + 135 mm), and taller (1,560 mm, + 95 mm) with a high seating position, a very large glass area and large suspension travel ’all attributes usually associated with a C-segment SUV.
This insightful package is clothed in a modernistic body work with no door handles and no mirrors ’ exterior cameras replace these ’very compact proportions and flowing major feature lines and side textures that create a muscular and taught look. Mazda Hakaze has no B-pillar either and the rear two-thirds of the glass roof can be taken off in two parts and stored in a slide-out compartment in the rear bumper. — Mazda Nagare design language.
At the front, they pushed forward the design idea of the Mazda Sassou ’with a large grille design that has chevron-shaped front indicators and headlights ’to which they added Nagare flow lines. At the rear of the car, a unique illumination system is used with light flowing directly into the lower part of the rear window. Because the rear lights have flowing shapes integrated into the design here, this creates an impression of floating light.
All the concept’s Nagare flow lines combine to visualize movement by making it seem as if the wind itself has etched natural flow lines into the car’s surface.
Mazda Hakaze not only took its inspiration from Nagare natural flow, but also from technological objects like helicopters, speed boats, jetfighters. These are strongly related to flow and examples of human interface to fast movement through natural elements. The design team combined these kinds of forms with shapes directly moulded by flow in sand and water. Examples of this are Hakaze’s glass roof cockpit and its 20-inch wheel design. The wheels use a mixture of forms inspired by sand dunes and propeller shapes to express flow and movement ’including extensions of the spoke design into the tyre rubber bordering the wheel ’and adds a three-dimensional depth to lend Mazda’s new show car a modern sophistication.
Exterior colour and materials ’ Nagare surface treatment enhanced by ’flop’ technique — Mazda Ryuga concept.
Mazda Hakaze’s exterior forms are combined with colours, materials and surface treatment that also express Nagare flow. A desert image is the source for its golden colour, reminiscent of a desert at sunset.
The natural look to the exterior surface was further underscored by employing a’flop’technique in the colour treatment of all panels that are bent at an angle to form two sections with a smooth edge between them. The final effect is similar to a sand dune or a wave in sand, which is lighter above and darker below.
Interior design – a natural environment
The interior of the Mazda Hakaze is a triumph of form, texture and functionality. Its two large, pop-up doors are keyless, one-touch and give a wide opening into one of its four bucket seats. Once inside, Hakaze’s interior gives an intense open feeling, even with the roof on. The windscreen extends to behind the front occupants, creating an enormous viewing angle. The A-pillar dives into the instrument panel just in front of the door, making this feeling even stronger.
The interior design, and especially the instrument panel, is asymmetrical with a strong focus on the driver. The wrap-around cockpit features a long steering unit that gives a feeling of sportiness and depth. It has orange-lit meters on each side of the steering wheel ’speedometer and tachometer ’and in the centre of the steering column is an LCD screen with navigation information, images from the car’s rear view and side cameras and warning indicators ’all of which give an enhanced feeling of control to the driver. The centre of the steering wheel is fixed, only the rim and the lower arm can rotate. — all-new Mazda6 production model.
There are also unique sliding controls to the right of the driver on the centre console, which follow the three illuminated lines in the surface. These lines have a dune wave design to make it easy for the driver to slide his finger up or down along the surface. Doing so adjusts seat positions, heating, audio and multimedia devices, with light below the surface moving up or down with the finger. The wave strip furthest from the driver has the controls for the car’s hard disc drive multimedia system and an LCD screen that electrically rises up and out of the dashboard surface on the passenger side. This screen can be turned by hand so the driver can also see it when the car is parked.
Data can be transferred to and from the car’s computer with a personal’data shell’, which is a further development of the USB stick concept used on the Mazda Sassou design car.
It is a wireless device that allows the driver to open the car simply by carrying it in his pocket, and also allows him to save his personal driving settings and data from his home computer (route, music, movies). Once in place, the’data shell’also functions as the gear shift lever for the concept’s automatic gearbox.
All of Mazda Hakaze’s seats are mounted on the centre tunnel and are electrically adjustable, sliding fore and aft. For more room in the boot, the rear seats slide forward with their lower cushions under the front seats, which give ample space in the hatch for all kinds of gear necessary for a day at the beach. With the windows down and the top off, there is a true roadster feel wherever you happen to be sitting in the car. — 2007 Tokyo Motor Show concepts.
The colour scheme on the inside of Mazda Hakaze was chosen to enhance the natural flow forms and to underscore the car’s kite-surfing functionality. They reflect the ocean, continuing the beach and dune theme, with the floor a dark brown, the trim, dashboard, doors and centre panel a greenish beige, the four seats in a deep blue. This is combined with unique texturing of materials meant to enhance the Nagare flow strategy with natural feeling surfaces and patterns.
Powertrain & chassis – ready for off-road fun
The Mazda Hakaze design concept has been conceived to be equipped with either a powerful DISI* petrol engine or a diesel engine. The MZR 2.3-litre DISI petrol is a high-performance turbocharged engine with direct injection that is coupled to Mazda’s active torque-split all-wheel drive transmission. This is Mazda’s latest MZR petrol powertrain technology and is an ideal match to the adventurous and fun nature of Mazda Hakaze. It delivers high torque and power, 6-speed sport automatic transmission and beach-ready four-wheel drive traction.
Combined with Mazda Hakaze’s aerodynamic shape and lightweight body, the engine would not only be fun to drive, but would also use acceptable amounts of petrol. It has MacPherson front struts and multi-link rear suspension for agile, Zoom-Zoom handling, whether at the beach or in the city.
