Apart from unveiling its latest concept, the Japanese carmaker has also released a few details regarding its new design language, the Mazda Kodo. Kodo means Soul of Motion, and the styling lines it embodies will be found in all future Mazda production models. Mazda's previous design languages have been inspired by various elements from the natures, including wind and the flow of water.
The brand's next step in styling, the Mazda Kodo, adds movement to the equation. The Mazda Kodo aims to add power and beauty to the company's vehicles, and to inspire power, speed, a dignified tension, and a sophisticated beauty.
The keywords of Mazda Kodo are Speed, Tense, and
Alluring. The Mazda Kodo design language wants to "awaken a wild instinct to want to drive this machine" while generating "a finely-honed sense of tension" with a "quality feel that conveys depth and sophistication".
Mazda Press Release:
Throughout its history Mazda Design has explored various forms that depict ‘motion’.
In recent years, this has been fused with the graceful beauty found in movement in nature, in wind and the flow of water, to realize a unique design expression for Mazda.
Mazda's creative approach is now evolving. The underlying design philosophy for the next generation of Mazda cars is adding the power and beauty that one sees in the instantaneous movement of animals or humans. This is the form displayed in the moment motion begins – for example the instant when a cheetah pounces on its prey, or the moment of a sword strike in the ancient Japanese martial art of kendo.
It is this moment where accumulated force is released that contains the most finely-honed balance of strength and streamlined beauty. It is in this instant – which requires maximum concentration – that we feel instantaneous power, speed, a dignified tension, a sophisticated beauty – it is, in its way, highly seductive.
Mazda has positioned this instantaneous movement, filled with vitality and the stirring of the emotions, as the ultimate form of motion, and has defined it as ‘KODO’. KODO will be incorporated
into all Mazda designs, to express a faster, more forceful movement, and to include a more soulful element. This is embodied in the design language of ‘KODO – Soul of Motion’ and it represents the next generation of Mazda design.
Keywords: Speed, Tense, and Alluring
Speed: Vehicle form conveys speed and looking at the car awakens a wild instinct to want to drive this machine. A machine which is an expression of speed with power.
Tense: The form generates a finely-honed sense of tension, of the moment just as motion begins. A form that is refined, without waste and which embodies the spirit of Japanese simplicity.
Alluring: A quality feel that conveys depth and sophistication, expresses craftsmanship,
and invokes the human touch of a product made by hand.
We aim to combine these three value elements to form ‘KODO – Soul of Motion’.
