Autoblog

Click above for a high-res gallery of the Mazda Taiki concept.

Mazda is finally going to employ the styling cues shown on its Taiki, Ryuga, Hakaze and Furai show cars with a supermini concept, due to be unveiled at the Paris Motor Show. The concept aims to slot in below the Mazda2 and may be the first production model to benefit from the Nagare design theme. Other models utilizing Laurens van der Acker's swooping and sculpted lines are expected to come to production in 2010, including the redesigned Mazda3.

Mazda also plans to unveil a small crossover concept at the Moscow Motor Show later this year, which will likely be based of the Ford Kuga and utilize the same Nagare DNA. This new CUV will be specifically designed for the Russian market, which Mazda maintains could overtake Germany as the largest market in Europe. But bringing this cute 'ute to the UK and the US is a possibility, as consumers continue to downsize their rides.

[Source: Autocar]

Click photo for hi res version

Mazda's sending its latest concept to NAIAS, this one named Ryuga. The gullwinged sports car is meant to build on Mazda's recently introduced "flow" design language first seen on the Nagare in LA. Not coincidentally, Ryuga is Japanese for "gracious flow." "Ryuga is Zoom-Zoom defined," said Laurens van den Acker, Mazda's global design director in a Mazda press release. "It combines vibrance, confidence, fun and youth all in one ingenious package."

The Ryuga is scheduled for introduction on the morning of January 8, the second day of the show's media preview.

Mazda also says it will bring along the 2008 Tribute HEV hybrid. Combining gas and electric motors, the SUV produces 155hp, but still qualifies as a Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle and Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle in California.

With the introduction of the Kabura earlier this year, the Nagare in L.A. and now the Ryuga in a few weeks, we understand that Mazda is in the process of revealing a production vehicle mimicking the design cues used in these concepts. Hopefully Mazda will give us something we can drive by this time next year.

Full Mazda press release after the jump.

[Source: Mazda]