:cool:
This link at Mazdadesign follows the development of the RX-8 from the sketchpad drawings up to production.
http://www.mazdadesign.net/RX8/RX8dev.htm


My appologies if this was covered before. I performed several searches but came up empty.

Great find! Thanks for posting it.

Ditto! It's interesting to see how long Mazda was kicking around the basic design.

This rearend is interesting. Clearly takes design cues from the FD:

http://www.mazdadesign.net/RX8/exterior%20photo/1998ext5.jpg

Clearly takes design cues from the FD:

Looks that way. But then Ford decided to borrow that styling cue for their Taurus.
See here:
http://www.atfx.com/spoiler/fordc/T1630A.html

Yep, that always upset me too (being an owner of an FD).