STUNNING VISION

THERE’S A REASON IT’S CALLED VISION COUPE CONCEPT, IT’S NOT A SHOW CAR, NOT A PRODUCTION CAR . . . BUT IT’S SOMETHING WE HAVE TO MAKE WORK

pouncing cheetah in ads. But now the company has aimed for a “simplistic and elegant” design with the theme of “Art of Light”.

The visually stunning Vision Coupe concept car joins Mazda’s RX-Vision coupe as the lead for Kodo 2.0 focus.

Mazda’s head of global design, Ikuo Maeda, revealed the Vision coupe concept to the global media plus influential US dealer principals at an event in Tokyo on the eve of the motor show.

Maeda-san told the group that “not many cars these days can be described as elegant”.

Instead, Mazda has aimed for “minimalist aesthetics” with the concept.

The concept took two years to create via the use of full clay models and for the first time in the Ikuo Maeda

company’s history, also in parallel with digital models.

The aim was for a “one motion form” which is created via a single bodyline across to the top of the rear shoulders and a concave element at the driver and passenger doors.

“We wanted to strip away excessiveness,” said Maeda-san.

The design focus was on the use of light and shadow to gain the minimalist design.

The result is a stunning piece of automotive art with the long coupe the size of the Mazda6 with few visual distractions.

The Vision adopts the basic form of a flowing four-door coupe. Its proportions conform to the golden ratio of classic coupe design with the cabin positioned toward the rear of the body.

The next day at the motor show, Maeda-san admitted to the New Zealand media that he had a favourite out of the three concept vehicles: the RX-Vision, Vision Coupe, and Kai hatchback.

“My first pick would be the RXVision, then the Vision Coupe.”

“We have the RX-Vision and with the Kai it bookends the next generation design for Mazda,” he said. “The Kai is the production model based on RX-Vision and Kai concept is actually closer to being a production model.”

When the company moved to Kodo and SkyActiv chassis it also had to change the way it designs and builds its vehicles at its Hiroshima factory.

“If we are to produce mass vehicle high development like Vision Coupe from production, then we realise that the character lines and panels have to be made perfectly round. It’s a more delicate process,” said Maedasan.

When asked if he had thought about the increased work to create such delicate panels, he said “there’s a reason it’s called Vision Coupe concept, it’s not a show car, not a production car . . . but it’s something we have to make work”.

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See Driven.co.nz for our factory tour story.