Mazda has revealed a new concept car, the Vision Coupe, on the eve of the Tokyo motor show.
While the Kodo design was introduced in 2010 to international success via an increase in sales plus design awards, Mazda has decided to create the next generation of that design.
The original Kodo design is described as ‘Soul in Motion’ while the analogy of “Horse and Rider as one’ and the use of a pouncing tiger, instead the company has aimed for a “simplistic and elegant” design of “Art of Light”.
The Vision Coupe joins Mazda’s RX-Vision coupe as the lead for Kodo 2.0 focus.
Mazda’s head of global design, Ikuo Maeda, revealed the concept to the global media plus influential USA dealer principals at an event in Tokyo last night.
Mazda Motor Corp had originally planned to reveal Vision Coupe and a second concept at an outdoor event at the Tokyo National Museum on Monday, but the threat of a super typhoon that day meant the company had to move it indoors to the fashionable Kanto Mazda dealership.
Maeda-san told the group last night 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 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 very few visual distractions.
The concept Vision Coupe is the first of two concepts to be revealed at today’s Tokyo motor show.
