There's a fine line between a company with a strong sense of history and one that's maybe getting a little bit stuffy.
Lately mas rod has been trending toward that latter category.
But that all changes today with this.
It's the MC 20.
It's Mazda Ronnie's first new supercar in over 16 years.
It's a strong shot in Missouri for a company in desperate need of something fresh and new.
Let's take a closer look.
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That last supercar was 2004 is Mazda rottie Mc 12.
And while the names are certainly similar beyond the Trident logo on the nose There's really not a lot of shared here.
The MC 12 existed almost purely as a homologation exercise to get masa Ronnie back into racing, which it did quite successfully winning numerous endurance races and FIA GT championships.
That car was built on a Ferrari Enzo monocoque chassis, and shared much of the drive train, It was really just the body that was bespoke, and what a body it was.
The MC 20 is a very different thing designed and engineered in house and frankly, a lot more demure than what came before.
It has an understated modern supercar look to it, with numerous styling cues that wouldn't look at a place in a Ferrari or a lotus for example.
But despite that, I confess I'm quite fond of the thing.
It's a bit plain Yes, especially compared to the MC 12.
But there's also something vaguely futuristic about it with really only that gaping nose giving a link back to other mas Ronnie's on the road.
Well that in the cheeky tried and cut into the rear decklid Which is not my favorite styling cue if I'm being honest.
Marathi says the look of the car is a marriage of artistic design and aerodynamic sensibilities.
And the company has softly color coded those different elements, the parts of the car that are white, that's where the designers made the final call.
The darker parts along the bottom, those were all driven by efficiency Performance.
That white by the way is called Bianco das or white boldness which must, Ronnie says was designed to evoke the gleam of quarried marble struck by the light of a Mediterranean sunset.
It is regardless of bold choice after Labor Day.
The body of the car was designed to be simple and clean with no giant wing hanging off the back or splitter protruding from the front.
Events and intakes are kept to a minimum with the most aggressive visual components that rear diffuser cloaked in raw carbon fiber.
All of that wraps a custom carbon monocoque developed with racecar chassis experts delora.
Interestingly, the chassis was designed to support three versions.
First is the coupe you see here, while a retractable hardtop spider flavor is coming next.
The third flavor will be electric making room for batteries in the same basic layout.
With only the lay-up of the carbon filaments changing.
No ETE on that though.
For the initial coupe we'll get a fairly traditional 90 degree twin turbo three-liter V6, making 621 horsepower.
Maserati says this engine, called Nettuno, named after a certain trident wielding god, is fully new.
And I can't help thinking the engineers were targeting that power figure.
That's exactly the same power output as the MC 12.
The width needed twice the cylinders and the displacement to do it.
While forced induction is the major driver of that increase in relative output.
Mas Ronnie also credits what it calls Mazda rottie twin combustion, a sort of pre combustion chamber that helps for more efficient combustion within the engine.
Power gets to the rear wheel through an eight speed dual clutch transmission and a mechanical locking rear differential weight of the entire package is 3306 pounds, which mas Roddy says gives it a best in class power to weight ratio.
suspension is dual wishbone front and rear with a semi virtual steering layout designed to reduce scrub angle and increase the steering fuel and the response.
Brakes are Brembo carbon ceramic with six pistons at the front and forth the rear.
The interior of the MC 20 access via doors that open the right way strikes up blend between race, focus, minimalism, and the needs of day to day motoring.
This is best seen on the steering wheel which the marketing releases features only essential buttons and controls.
Somehow launch control and cruise control made the cut.The mode dial however, was relegated to the center console.
Dual 10 inch displays serve as gauge cluster and infotainment system powered by Android automotive like comm a new pole star to this software will give easy access to all your Smart Home needs while also providing a clean simple user interface.
Hear we dubbed as Marathi touch control plus Mia.
Mia by the way is mas Ronnie's intelligent assistant because we all need another voice control system in our lives right now.
Masani promises almost 150 litres of storage or 5.3 cubic feet spread across both a trunk and a frank A big step up from the MC 12 which didn't even have a truck.
Get another sign of the MC 20 is a very different car, something intended for daily use, something that will be as good to drive on the road as it is on the track.
And the track is an important part of this car because Mazda Ronnie says this is what will bring the brand back to racing.
Though they're not saying where or when.
They are saying though that this car will start at $210,000 and will be available starting toward the third or fourth quarter of next year.
I'm glad it's not too much farther away because waiting 16 years is plenty long enough.
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