Mazda Vision Coupe concept is like a Japanese Ferrari
It's a sleek little number that tells us the future of Mazda's design language will be very good indeed.
Mazda is doing some pretty great things at the moment, not only with how its vehicles drive, but with how they look. But by comparison, the present looks like a pile of steaming garbage if the future turns out more like the Vision Coupe concept.
Mazda has just unveiled the Vision Coupe concept at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show. Building off the wild success of its predecessor, the RX Vision concept, the Vision Coupe attempts to give the public a look at the next generation of Mazda's design language, the underlying tenets that guide the design of every car in the lineup.
I really do get a hint of Ferrari in this design, especially when looking at the rear from a three-quarter angle.
If this is where Mazda is headed, its navigation system must be set to the Japanese version of Valhalla or Elysium. Mazda calls the car's form "one motion," and I can see why it's named that -- the car doesn't lean on heavy creases or aggressive angles, choosing instead to focus on smooth lines, much like the Kai Concept that also debuted in Tokyo.
The interior is similar to the Kai Concept's. There's a new focus on horizontal lines, with the infotainment system hiding under a layered dashboard that stretches unencumbered between the doors. There's a healthy dose of wood on the doors and center console, the shifter looks traditional enough and the gauges are pretty straightforward, although I'm pretty sure they're screens and not real gauges.
While it would be safe to assume that a rotary engine might live under the hood, it's a concept, so that part doesn't really matter. Mazda has already signaled its intention to revive the rotary engine -- first as a range extender for EVs, then perhaps as a standalone performance engine later on.
