Mazda Nagare concept: 2006 L.A Motor Show

Motoring Channel Staff - 1/Dec/2006

Los Angeles, USA — This new concept car from Mazda is all about flow. Take one look at the design and it's clear to see that this prototype vehicle is a very smooth character. Mazda likes to think of the Nagare as a sneak peek at an RX-8 from the future, something that we could be driving in 2020. 

Even it's name, Nagare, (pron "na-ga-reh") means ‘flow’ in Japanese, and it looks like something that belongs in an aquatic environment, such are the vehicle's sinuous lines. 

This new concept is Mazda’s new global design director's (Laurens van den Acker) view of the future of Mazda, who was aided by Franz von Holzhausen, who happens to be Mazda's North American Operations’ (MNAO) director of design. 

Working from Mazda's Japanese headquarters in Hiroshima, Laurens van den Acker now holds a huge amount of control over Mazda's overall design philosophy, and he will be the man that Mazda fans the world over will come to love or hate, depending on the choices he makes for the next generation Mazda models.

Laurens van den Acker said at the L.A. motor show that it's "...important to start with the vision first: Nagare is sculpture on wheels, our vision of what Mazda automobiles could look like in 2020.

"The concept we’ll present in Detroit is practical enough to produce in the next decade," said van den Acker, hinting at yet more concept cars, "while the model under development for Geneva will embody design ideas we expect to implement in the very near future."

The arresting new concept design was revealed at the '06 Los Angeles Auto Show and Franz von Holzhausen, the North American chief of design at Mazda, was closely involved in creating this concept under the watchful eye of his superior,Laurens van den Acker. 

Franz von Holzhausen explains that the Nagare is a forward-looking design: "We’re looking well down the road with Nagare. We want to suggest where Mazda design will be in 2020. To do that, we redefined basic proportions and the idea of driving without losing the emotional involvement. Mazda’s driving spirit will be enhanced and intensified by Nagare.

"Mazda doesn’t produce concept cars to spin its wheels, and while some are more forward-looking than others, we simply do not create pure flights of fantasy," said von Holzhausen. This is in contrast to some automakers, which create concept cars that are much wilder designs used simply to attract attention at motor shows, and little else.

"We develop these ideas to demonstrate what we really intend to build and sell," adds von Holzhausen. "It took soul-searching along with basic research to invent the new surface language we're calling Nagare. The dynamic qualities of Mazda products already do an excellent job of capturing the spirit of motion so our goal was to move our design language a major step beyond what we’ve already demonstrated with Sassou, Senku, and Kabura.

"We began by studying motion and the effect it has on natural surroundings: how wind shapes sand in the desert, how water moves across the ocean floor, and the look of lava flowing down a mountainside. Natural motion registers an impression in your brain and that's what we hoped to capture with the new Nagare surface language," continued von Holzhausen.

"Once we started sketching our ideas, we weren't surprised to find similar quests underway in other product design disciplines. We found examples of motion influencing the shape and surface of furniture, architecture, apparel, and artwork. Nagare undoubtedly proves our confidence in identifying a new and exciting visual language for Mazda as we lead the way in defining the interaction of motion and flow in automobile surfacing.

"We began by developing a surface or textural language that describes flow. The motion of the vehicle is defined by, and evident in, the texture of its interior and exterior surfaces. There is no right or wrong way to capture the impression of motion, so each of the concepts we present throughout this global show season will embody a different interpretation of our new surface language," said Franz von Holzhausen, who is Mazda's North American Operations’ (MNAO) director of design.

Conceptual Concepts

Mazda says that its American chief of design, Franz von Holzhausen, describes Nagare as "a concept of a concept." It has revealed that this vehicle is a celebration of proportions and surface language that will evolve in subsequent designs planned for presentation at future autoshows this season (2007). It describes the process as "design first, engineering later" rather than the more traditional ‘form-follows-function’ approach.

The Vehicle

Mazda explains that, like all of its products, the Nagare concept has the soul of a sports car. Its shape is sleek and aerodynamically efficient, as you’d expect of an urban cruiser for the future. Overhangs? They don't really rate in this concept, as the wheels are positioned at the far corners of the envelope for quick steering response and agile maneouverability.

Access to the 4-seat interior is provided by two double-length doors that hinge forward and up like wings. The driver is centrally located, like a single-seat sports racer or like the famed '90s sports car from McLaren (the F1), for improved control and visibility. Having the driver mounted centrally also means that conversions between right- and left-hand drive vehicles would be negated, saving big bucks in manufacturing for different global markets. 

Mazda adds that innovative seating arrangements are one of its specialties, as witnessed by the successful RX-8 four passenger sports car and the clever packaging in the upcoming CX-9 three-row, 7-passenger crossover sport-utility vehicle. So, the Nagare's rear compartment is a wrap-around lounge offering relaxed accommodations for three passengers, where the central front seat and expansive door opening facilitate easy entry to the roomy interior.

Recognising that an advanced design concept needs an advanced powertrain, Mazda has hinted that the Nagare could conceivably be powered by a hydrogen-fueled rotary engine, as it's work on this advanced driveline technology is among the most advanced in the world, with hydrogen/gasoline-fueled rotaries powering RX-8s currently in service in Japan.

Flow Motion

Nagare’s side surfaces provide a means of visualising the air flowing along and over the car as it speeds through the atmosphere, and the look is highly appealing. Light and shadow combine to convey this feeling of motion even when the car is still claims Mazda, and similar hints of fluid flow are evident in the hood, wheel arches, LED head- and tail-lamp treatments.

Notes von Holzhausen of the vehicle, "Beauty is not a clean sheet of paper. Nagare's motion-influenced surface texture compliments its dynamic attributes. Because of Mazda's sporty essence, we never wrap our customers in boxes. Our new surface language is car-centric. After studying the architectural approach, which tends to be strictly rigid, and the organic approach, which is highly fluid, we created Nagare to straddle those two disciplines. 

"It is fluid, graceful, and dynamic. But the message it registers on the beholder is flow-motion," concluded von Holzhausen.

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