Mazda debuts new Kodo design
 

Could the next RX7, RX8, or RX9 look like this? In general, I think the new look is really sharp, and wonder how this would translate in to a new RX. What's really interesting about this show car is that the wheels have the rotary theme in them, very similar to the series 2 wheels! See link below
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/30/m...inari-concept/

Here is more pic's....

http://www.autoblog.com/2010/08/30/m...rand-in-style/

i'm sorry, but i have to whole-heartedly disagree with the "looks" on this one...

that car, imo, is THE ugliest concept mazda has put out to date- and for some of the most obvious reasons...

- it's big, bulky, long, and both angular and curvy in the weirdest places.
- is it trying to be a jag? an aston? a maseratti? maybe it's trying to be a hyundai genesis coupe with 4 doors? or, maybe a toyota solara?

it basically looks like a mazda 6 with a serious identity crisis... it cannot decide if it's a coupe, a sedan, korean, european, or japanese!

i'd heartily take the furai, the kabura, or the senku over that blue whale of a monstrocity...

mazda's loss of it's chief designer is already beginning to show... the smiley crop of smiley smiley cars on the road right now already prove that. and, this is just a preview of the worst yet to come- IF they continue down this design road...

sigh

^Although I have to agree with their design element slipping, this is ONLY a concept. Anything to come of this will be much more tame. I'm not crazy about it, but I doubt anything that comes to production will even closely resemble more than maybe the front grille design.

Kinda reminds me of an Aston Martin Rapide.

Looks like an Aston did it with an RX-8

Love it btw

I'll be interested when they resort, IF they do, to a 2 door coupe and not a sedan..

I'd take it all day long...2 or 4 doors...love it!

It's not a rotary running on the actual car, unfortunately:

http://www.motortrend.com/future/con...es/design.html

Must we continue this in a new thread? there is already a 9 page thread to it that Zoom linked....

It reminds me most of a Fisker Karma. While I think it looks good (although large), I also think it looks fairly derivative and unoriginal.

Now if the rest of the models had similar looks.. i could be interested in another mazda!!!!

me likey, except for the over the top front bumper.

Its a bit like the New R3 front which I also think is too aggressive.

Mazda is listening to us to verify what will sell. I LIKE the looks of this one and am looking forward to a smaller sporty model.

i'm sorry, but i have to whole-heartedly agree with the "looks" on this one...

that car, imo, is THE sexiest concept mazda has put out to date- and for some of the most obvious reasons...

- it's big, sporty, long, and both angular and curvy in all the right places.
- is it trying to be a jag? an aston? a maseratti? Not sure, but it's sexier than all combined
coupe with 4 doors? Love the idea of 4-door coupe!!!

it basically looks like a Aston Martin with a serious attitude... it cannot decide if it's a coupe, a sedan, korean, european, or japanese! LOVE IT!

i'd heartily take this design over the furai, the kabura, or the senku... It's perfect!

mazda's loss of it's "eccentric" chief designer is already beginning to show... the smiley crop of smiley sexy cars on the road right now already prove that. and, this is just a preview of the best yet to come- IF they continue down this design road...

:D

I think the car is pretty sexy. I love the lines and the wheel arches.
the interior is OMG

Silhouette is not original- Aston Martin Rapide, Jaguar, Fisker, Tesla, etc. However, as Maeda stated, their new exterior design philosophy is about taking every piece/surface and twisting it by running curves and lines abruptly into each other to create something with unique and distinctive tension. Unique for sure. Maybe not distinctive for some of the people on this forum. Tension? Definitely, and that might not be good, because in the Shinari, that tension seems polarizing and divisive.

Let me break down the new KODO design theme in another way because it's really not that complicated or original, although the results may LOOK complicated, even messy. KODO is about elaborating each panel or surface. KODO is open about how panels meet each other- sometimes panels flow into each other (e.g., the side body panels) and sometimes they hit abruptly (e.g., headlights vs the other surfaces that border the headlights). Within each panel/surface, KODO is also open as long as something is happening/busy, which can be a flowing curve or an acute angle. For example, the simplest surfaces on the Shinari are the back of the trunk and the hood, but even in these surfaces, something is happening. The former was elaborated by ensuring the edges are contoured, the latter by ensuring the edge lines do not run the full width of the hood "surface" and that they run relatively sharply inward (though not as much as on the Murcielago). In contrast, Nagare was about flow and continuity within and across surfaces/panels.

What I don't like about the Shinari is that in certain areas it not only looks busy but looks almost randomly busy- the front and rear air dams, the grille. What I like about the Shinari is it avoids the practice of forcing nondescript curves all over the car as in the C5 corvette, the previous generation Miata, and (of course) the current G37 sedan. Curves for the random sake of curves leads to a form without character, indeed a faceless face. At least KODO prevents that from happening.