Geneva Motor Show: Mazda Hakaze in the rippled metal
by Frank Filipponio on Mar 6th 2007 at 11:07AM 
We have already seen media pics of the Mazda Hakaze. We even have all of the details about the mechanicals. What we didn't have until today are live shots and personal impressions of what it's really like in the "flesh." Well, thanks to our own Damon Lavrinc in Geneva, we do now. He describes it as "ambitious," "beautifully fluid", and, when referring to all of Mazda's recent concepts, a "modern Pininfarina with a Japanese flare." It brings some cohesion to recent Mazda offerings like the CX-7 and CX-9.
Following on the heels of the Nagare and Ryuga concepts Mazda has shown over the past year, the Hakaze adds a "flying leaf" motif to the mix. The body surface mimics its predecessors with the ripples, this time looking like flowing sand dunes, which Mazda's designers are calling the "flop" technique of color manipulation.
Whatever. Besides giving us the emotional embodiment of "kite-surfing," the important thing to note about the Hakaze is the fact that Mazda has said it is the one concept of the three that has the best chance of seeing production.Ready for a CX-5, everybody?
Click away for our high-res gallery from Geneva with all of the media pics still available as well.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
menice 11:12AM (3/06/2007)
said it before, i'll say it again, it would be much cooler if that big eye in the back blinked when you hit the 'rear wiper' button.
i hope this is not where the next generation of auto's are going, this is fugly.
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menice 11:21AM (3/06/2007)
also, i do like the rims, those are sweet.
only see one interior shot, think that is a real pic, curious for more.
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The driver 11:36AM (3/06/2007)
What an ugly bloated creation. The person who described it as "beautifully fluid", a "modern Pininfarina with a Japanese flare." must be blind, and has never seen any of the Pininfarina designs prior to going blind.
To summarize: bloated tasteless front, that look more like a $.50 HotWheels car, a-la BMW z4 side lines, but unlike BMW they are not harmonically fit , but rather forced together and "so-what" rear.
I don't see what the fuzz is about. HotWheels toy built into the full-size car.
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SherbornSean 11:39AM (3/06/2007)
I think this concept is absolutely beautiful, and consistent with the excellent design work Mazda has been doing the last few years.
I hope this translates to production faithfully and quickly.
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ziggy 11:48AM (3/06/2007)
Ok Mazda, now that you're done wasting your engineers time with the CX-5 and Mazda 2 how about giving us a mazdaspeed RX-8, new RX-7, or a Kabura type RWD coupe. You are the company that claims to have the soul of a sports car in every vehicle, but you only have one real sportscar and it's a roadster. Why not pull a Porsche and develop a coupe variant of the universally acclaimed Miata. The hard top convertible is still a convertible not a true coupe. Can it really be that hard to build a real 2 door 2 seat coupe... all the parts are readily available in your existing line-up. Do you really need four SUV/CUVs (CX-5, CX-7, CX-9, Tribute)? Really WTF? Sometimes I hate Mazda so much, but then I go drive my RX-8 and forgive them. I just want more power and I don't really need those back seats or extra doors.
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Mike 11:46AM (3/06/2007)
Just as bad as the last time Autoblog featured this abomination.
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BLS 11:49AM (3/06/2007)
That grill is almost as ugly as the real grill on the new MDX. And Mazda what happened to cool concept cars like last year's 4 seat coupe. Grrrr.
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Tony Belding 11:55AM (3/06/2007)
The aerodynamics must be a real drag, so to speak. Why is nobody designing streamlined cars anymore? It seems like the industry has regressed. They are going "backward into the future" as Ralph Nader once put it.
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lalaland 12:39PM (3/06/2007)
Yuck. Mazda designers took a class with Chris Bangle? How can anyone not see the flame surfacing behind the front wheel arch, a la BMW Z4. Disgusting. Just when Mazda was doing so well with Moray Callum's designs, they relegate him to Ford's North American design Siberia. And now we see the future of Mazda. Vile.
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I've seen this design 50 years ago 12:40PM (3/06/2007)
The front looks like those early steam boats from 1800s. Subliminally, I associate it with speeds in 10-15m/h range, turning radius of 1-2 miles and 100s of tons of steel. And, of course, those steam boat didn't really have any design, niether does this ugly. Mazda should be ashamed of putting its badge on something like that.
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Steve 12:16PM (3/06/2007)
This just doesn't look good and why would Mazda need yet another CUV?
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Bryan 1:58PM (3/06/2007)
Wow something got hit with the ugly tree..yes tree, it passed on the sugly stick and just got whooped with the whole tree. Good thing Mazda will not build anything this hideous! I hope.
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Will 3:55PM (3/06/2007)
I love how they picked the worst of the three.
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Nathan 6:45PM (3/06/2007)
So this is what the Japanese have been doing with their Whale "research".
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Richard Warren 6:51PM (3/06/2007)
Ugly.
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mikes 12:38PM (3/07/2007)
It looks happy... big smile on front.
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JimboNC 11:11PM (3/06/2007)
Some of these concepts look like misconceptions to me.
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8189720 1:25AM (3/16/2007)
Ugly, but at least it's smiling.
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Phred 12:59AM (3/07/2007)
So it's Pininfarina designed and includes a Japanese-made road flare? Check your homonyms.
@Tony Belding:
Harley Earl-style "streamlining" in reality is not the best aerodynamic practice for cars; aerodynamics is sometimes quite counter-intuitive (see http://doiop.com/bionic and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kammback).
The science of aerodynamics has progressed a lot in just the last couple decades, meaning that designers can make cars aerodynamic and shape them in an apparently non-streamlined manner.
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