An article from C&D
 

Funny! Don't know how Mazda designers will solve this bug! They should hold a contest and see who can solve it and reward that person.

Yeah, I thought that was the funniest thing when I saw it. I guess I'll just have to make sure that I don't ever live where a front plate is required. But still, you'd think that designers would take that into consideration.

-Stephen

well maybe they did. look at it this way- if they had designed it differently then what would you have? well the nose would have some kind of notch in it to accomadate a plate. the notch would have to be big enough to handle all of the different size front plates found throughout the world, right? so the way they have designed it, when you live in a place where no front plate is required you have a nice smooth front end with no notch.

so your car will look better without a front plate than a car that is designed with a "plate notch":D

I read that in C/D. I am glad someone posted that for other to enjoy.

If your plate was white with a black stripe down the middle it would look bad, real bad. Lucky for you guys that have front plates there isn't currently a State that does this. ;)

Besides there are a bunch of different size and shape plates around the world. Could they possibly design all cars with this in mind?

eh, what's up doc?

:D

Also glad someone pointed this out! Very funny, indeed!

But, would the plate affect the car's "breathing"?

no. they designed the placement of the air intake and the radiator with the need for a front plate in mind.

yeah, actually the front duct is more for style than real cooling: below that pentagonal duct there is actually the big (low and very wide) one where most of the air comes in :)

see, i am paying attention:)

In Texas they require a front plate unless you have a nice car then they let it slide...

-Mr. Wigggles

Just put the plate on your dashboard if you really have to have one up front.

That is defiantly not legal here in Ontario; it must be properly attached to the front bumper or ticky ticky.

Is there a list of 'nice cars' and is the RX-8 on it?

In this picture the number plate looks not too bad.

this is why I like the front bumper from the MazdaSpeed RX-8 better it doesn't look to be as much of a puckered up set of lips... if you look at the MazdaSpeed pics its got a plate on the front and I never once looked at it as Bugs Bunny-esque....

I nearly pee'd in my pants when I saw Bugs in C&D's backfire section. :D

But seriously, it kinda sucks there isn't much of an alternative as far as the front license plate is concerned. Is there any way we could put it off to the side or perhaps lower?

toadman said it best

Hey, it works for me and might work for you. :)