| Mazda Kabura Concept
Redefining the Compact Sports Coupe
The essence of Mazda's Zoom-Zoom spirit is to provide customers with stylish, insightful, spirited products capable of enriching their lives in exciting ways. At this year's North American International Auto Show (in Detroit, Michigan), Mazda is presenting Kabura, a design concept that ventures beyond the compact sports coupe norm to explore several fresh ideas that could appear in future production models.
To deliver the true "Soul of a Sportscar" is the essence of every Mazda, so Kabura incorporates the front-engine, rear-drive layout universally admired by driving enthusiasts and long delivered by Mazda's MX-5 and rotary-engined sportscars.
To support youthful lifestyles, Kabura stretches the bounds of interior versatility in radical directions. Replacing the typical 2+2 layout is a clever 3+1 seating arrangement. This presents a new interior concept giving greater passenger comfort, compared to a traditional coupe, without increasing weight or size. Obligingly accommodating spur-of-the-moment adventures and impulsive shopping sprees, all passenger seats fold flat to make way for snow boards, shopping bags and all the tools of an active life.
While Kabura has the presence of an exotic sportscar, it has the practicality and affordability that youth yearn for and can afford.
Kabura is not only the first Mazda compact coupe for the 21st century, it's also the first project guided by Mazda North American Operations' (MNAO) Director of Design Franz von Holzhausen, who joined Mazda in February 2005 from GM. The 37-year-old von Holzhausen studied industrial design at Syracuse University (New York State) and graduated from the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California.
Reinvigorating the Affordable Coupe
"With Kabura, we set out to use innovative design to rekindle the passion for driving," notes von Holzhausen. "Our intention is to rouse the segment with some intravenous creativity. While we have no plans at the moment to build a production version of Kabura, it is not a complete flight of fancy. It embodies several innovations Mazda could implement when a compact sports coupe, steeped in Zoom-Zoom, is ready for production."
According to a recent survey performed by a major research organisation, Mazda's new-car customers are the second youngest in North America, with an average age of only 41 years.
Generation-Y buyers are several steps ahead of the latest trends and constantly on the lookout for affordable possessions that satisfy their hunger for stylish, insightful and spirited designs. One of Kabura's roles is exposing a likely future design direction to today's demanding consumers.
Power is supplied to Mazda Kabura's rear wheels by a 2.0-litre version of Mazda's highly respected MZR DOHC 16-valve engine. Unusually, Kabura has different size wheels and tyres - 245/35 R19 Bridgestone Potenza at the front and 245/35 R20 at the rear. While this concept has been constructed over several Mazda MX-5 chassis components, basic dimensions fall between Mazda's MX-5 and RX-8 sportscars.
Were the Kabura design study to achieve production status, it would likely be a stand-alone product rather than an extension of any existing model line.
Spirited Exterior
Von Holzhausen describes Mazda Kabura's exterior as "a nimble-looking fuselage with a powerful stance, pronounced wheel arches and taut surfaces." He adds, "Every line flows into another with no open ends. Surfaces are drawn tight over the wheel arches, the way a spider's web stretches between anchor points."
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