Mazda Nagare Concept: Capturing The Emotion Of Motion In New Surface Language

Mazda Nagare Concept: Capturing The Emotion Of Motion In New Surface Language

After presenting three ground-breaking concept vehicles during the 2005-2006 global auto show season – Sassou at the 2005 Frankfurt Motor Show, Senku at the 2005 Tokyo Motor Show and Kabura at the 2006 Detroit Auto Show – Mazda’s global design team wasn’t about to rest on its laurels. To keep energy levels brimming, and to begin the process of evolving Mazda’s design and surface language for future Zoom-Zoom vehicles, Mazda’s design division invented a new surface language called Nagare:

NAGARE: (pronounced “na-ga-reh”) Japanese for ‘flow’ and the embodiment of motion. Under the direction of Mazda’s global design director, Laurens van den Acker, a challenge was given to the design team to invent a novel means of registering motion in vehicles whether they’re moving or standing still. Nagare achieves that goal while also signaling a fresh design direction for future Mazda vehicles.

The Mazda Nagare, the first in a series of design concepts introduced at the 2006 Los Angeles Auto Show, has been refreshed for the New York International Auto Show. Nagare, Mazda Ryuga, (2007 North American International Auto Show) and Mazda Hakaze, which makes its North American debut here in New York, are the first three concepts in the series to illustrate Mazda’s new design direction. The series will reach fruition in the fall of 2007, when a fourth concept vehicle is set to make its debut at the Tokyo Motor Show. Franz von Holzhausen, Mazda North American Operations’ (MNAO) Director of Design, and the man responsible for leading the US-based design team which developed this vehicle, explains, “We’re looking well down the road with Nagare. We want to suggest where Mazda design will be in 2020. To do that, we redefined basic proportions and the idea of driving without losing the emotional involvement. Mazda’s driving spirit will be enhanced and intensified by Nagare.”

“Mazda doesn’t produce concept cars to spin its wheels, and while some are more forward-looking than others, we simply do not create pure flights of fantasy. We develop these ideas to demonstrate what we really intend to build and sell. It took soul-searching along with basic research to invent the new surface language we’re calling Nagare. The dynamic qualities of Mazda products already do an excellent job of capturing the spirit of motion, so our goal was to move our design language a major step beyond what we’ve already demonstrated with Sassou, Senku, and Kabura. ”

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