Concept Car of the Week: Mazda Taiki (2007)

Mazda had been doing fantastically well with its concepts since the end of 2006, and its offering for the 2007 Tokyo motor show didn't buck the trend. The fourth in the 'Nagare' series that explored the idea of 'Flow, it lined up on the Mazda stand with its older brothers for the first time, and was understandably a most impressive display and one of the highlights of this show.

Explaining the car to CDN, Global design director Laurens van den Acker commented: "I always admired the Bertone BAT series of cars and often felt it would be wonderful to try to create something as sculptural and iconic as that and this is the result".

The Taiki was designed in the Yokohama studio under the direction of Chief Designer Atsuhiko Yamada, with input from designers Troy Trinh and Joe Reeve, and sees the evolution of this theme into its most wild form, yet uses a softer form language than seen on the previous Nagare, Ryuga and Hakaze concepts.

There's almost too much to cover on this car, as it's a complex series of forms, plus there is a sophisticated underlying design philosophy, that visually expresses the flow of air, according to Yamada. 

Interestingly, some older designers CDN spoke to referred to the design bearing some similarities to the 1986 Peugeot Proxima concept, particularly the partially enclosed rear wheel buttresses, but generally the response to the car from rival designers was extremely positive.

Neat details include the varying pitch and spacing of the center grille bars, the three adjacent wave lines that contain LED lamps and rear lamps and side turn signals that glow through the body surface, this latter a development seen on several cars here at Tokyo.

The interior is inspired by Japanese koinobori – the decorative 'carp streamers' that are flown in springtime – and takes the idea of an airtube being distorted by the wind. The passenger side is a calm white environment while the driver's side cockpit is a stark contrast of black twisted forms that appear somewhat sinister, like some alien plant form: it's hardly inviting as a proper driving environment yet is fascinating as a piece of advanced interior architecture.

First seen Tokyo motor show 2007
Lead designer Atsuhiko Yamada
Length 4,620mm
Width 1,950mm
Height 1,240mm
Wheelbase 3,000mm

By CDN Team