Mazda's Hakaze design concept offers "acceptable" fuel economy

Click on the image for a gallery of high-res images of the Mazda Hakaze design concept.

Mazda Motor Corporation is to premier the Hakaze, its third concept car based on its 'Nagare' design language, at the 77th annual Geneva International Motor Show to be held from the 6th through to the 18th of March. The word Nagare means "flow" and "the embodiment of movement" in Japanese and applying it to car design involved analyzing motion itself and how forces like wind and water move in nature.

"Nagare is about capturing motion, energy and beauty, and translating it into forms that people connect with and want to touch. Nagare finds its inspiration in nature, and as such is an incredibly rich source for our designers."
-Laurens van den Acker, General Manager Design Division

Mazda's Advanced Product Planning team set the concept's designers to the task of creating a vehicle that was just as agile and fun to drive as a compact hatchback, while offering attributes like open-top driving, a higher seating position, more sporty driving attributes and a modern, upscale design. The result was the Hakaze design concept, a four-seat coupe-style compact crossover coupe with the feel of a roadster designed at Mazda's European Design Centre which meets the demands of adventurous lifestyles like kite-surfing.

The concept has no B-pillar to interrupt the modernistic body work and the rear two-thirds of the glass roof can be taken off in two parts and stored in a slide-out compartment in the rear bumper. It apparently also has the strong look of a Samurai sword when seen from the side.

The Hakaze features large, pop-up doors which are one-touch and keyless, as well as an LCD screen in the centre of the steering column with navigation information, images from the car's rear view and side cameras and warning indicators – all of which give an enhanced feeling of control to the driver. The centre of the steering wheel is fixed, only the rim and the lower arm can rotate. Another innovative feature is the wireless charging pad located in the glove box (also using Bluetooth) to recharge the batteries of a mobile phone, PDA, camera or MP3 player.