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When Mazda unveiled the Nagare concept car at the LA Motor Show in 2006, it was unlike any concept car seen before; due to its exterior form language of textured surface lines and dramatic, futuristic wedge-like shape. At first the car appeared to be a complete visual change from the trio of concept vehicles that had immediately preceded it – Sassou, Senku and Kabura and no one, not even on Mazda’s design team, knew how big an impact their new design philosophy would make around the world.
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| Mazda Nagare |
The earlier trio of award-winning concept cars had all wowed audiences at the world’s motor shows in 2005 and 2006 – exhibiting a new and energetic commitment to exciting and contemporary automotive design at Mazda. But with the introduction of the Nagare concept, everything shifted. It was as dramatic an introduction as any car company could hope for.
Under Mazda’s emerging Nagare (or Flow) form language, there are many design elements that define a Mazda vehicle. The most apparent is the surface treatment itself, which suggests air or fluid flow over the vehicles’ side surfaces. This is apparent for all of the Mazda Nagare concept vehicles. Their surface designs are textured to play with light as if the car is speeding through the air, suggesting the vehicles’ dynamic driving characteristics. These surfaces vary in accordance with the vehicle type and its individual shape and characteristics, as seen in the concept cars. Although different between each of the vehicles, it is always appropriate.
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| Mazda Nagare |
Until now the majority of Mazda’s design focus has been in the evolution of the Mazda Nagare exterior form language. This has been seen in the design progression apparent in the five concept vehicles. But as Laurens van den Acker explains, the focus is shifting to how to translate Flow to the interior of future Mazda vehicles.
The Mazda Nagare interior is a different approach; it is a collection of things. We are naturally maturing this language, by approaching interior development with the goal of having a holistic philosophy Interior development is focusing on three key areas – driver orientation, lightness – which is very important to Mazda and Flow. The idea is that the combination of these three aspects will make our interiors unique and makes our cars uniquely Mazda. You could argue that other brands have driver orientation and they may be trying to be light too. But only Nagare combined with the other two can define Mazda.
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| Mazda Nagare |
This philosophy of lightness is extra-ordinarily prescient. Van den Acker believes that within an increasingly stressful world our ability to enjoy driving a Mazda may have as much to do with the purity and serenity of its interior form as it does to its driving dynamics. In terms of lightness Mazda Nagare also means less denseness, less emotional drain, less visual static: “Flow is also about not being bothered by too much information, about being given information only when you need it. We need less rather than more. Our interiors will look very simple with just a few areas of information and technology. The ultimate goal is to have a interior, created from Flow, which is calming and peaceful.”
So Mazda Nagare from an interior perspective is devoid of mental stress and anxiety. It is just as central to Mazda’s new design approach as the exterior surface textures.
Posted in: Mazda
