If I had a euro for every time a designer told me their creation was dynamic, I'd be rich!
Motors went to Milan to learn a little more about the mysteries of car design from Mazda's design team. Mazda has design offices in Europe, the US and Japan and used the opportunity to reveal its latest concept car - the breathtaking Shinari sports car.
Sadly Shinari won't go into production (so don't cancel your Aston Martin Rapide order) but was built purely to demonstrate the essence of 'Kodo' design. Kodo means "soul of motion" and it is the name Mazda's design chief Ikuo Maeda has given to the core styling elements we will see in future Mazda car design.
Over four workshop sessions Mazda's team outlined the need for a successful carmaker to have a clear and cohesive design plan. With Shinari the conventional perception of a designer drawing some far-fetched sketches that look nice and futuristic then passing them on to a clay modeller to bring to life is not the Mazda way.
Firstly, words are chosen to help narrow down the elements called upon to create the new design theme. Shinari's key words are Speed, Tense and Alluring. Mazda is obsessed with implied motion so Shinari had to look ready to pounce even when standing still. A cheetah in motion provided the main design inspiration and from it experienced clay modellers and young designers worked hand in hand to create forms that reflected this energy. From what looked like no more than curvy blobs, angles and elements were drawn out to eventually become sketches and clay models of the Shinari car. An in-house competition was held between the various designers to pick the final design.
Next came the process of interior design. Mazda's Californian design department picked up this challenge. Here the process was a little more conventional with the designers drawing on elements of design already out there, like a Porsche watch and fabrics and materials from other design classics. While it may sound a little plagiaristic, the resulting process was far from it. Shinari features a clever HMI (Human Machine Interface). It combines the very latest in technologies to make life easier for the driver and passengers. There is a brilliant adjustable pull-out screen with very clever Internet connectivity. The passenger also gets their own USB and other connectivity. The driver can even screen incoming calls from the car's occupants for additional privacy.
Ikuo Maeda is the son of the design genius Matasaburo Maeda who gave us the first RX-7 in 1978. He is passionate about making vehicles that can be cherished. Thankfully Mazda up to now has made a few classics like the MX-5, the RX-7 and RX-8 (now sadly out of production) and of course the original Cosmo sports car.
While every carmaker says it wants to make dynamic (give myself a euro!) cars that look full of energy and quick even when stationary etc. etc., Mazda showed me a very serious commitment to delivering well-styled cars into the future, and that can only be good for motorists. We will see elements of Shinari in new Mazdas in the next two to three years.
Michael Sheridan
