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Mazda is downplaying screens to save its soul

Mazda is downplaying screens to save its soul

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Automaker’s minimalist philosophy means giving us information only when we really need it

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Mazda Vision Coupe concept
Mazda Vision Coupe concept
Mazda

Mazda is a small automaker. Last year, it made about 1.2 million vehicles, which doesn’t sound like an insignificant number. But think about how Audi made more than 2 million in 2016, many of them luxury cars, and it puts the Japanese automaker’s place in the automotive world into more perspective.

Which is why it has to think out of the box when it comes to new car designs. To that, Mazda has decided we’ve reached display overload. In the Mazda Vision Coupe that was released at last month’s 2017 Tokyo Motor Show, the company that has made driver-oriented cars such as the RX-7 and Miata sports cars wants to stick to focusing on drivers first, and dazzling displays secondarily.

In recent times, car interiors have come to be dominated by large displays. Although considerable amounts of information need to be supplied to the person operating the car, these screens can easily become a barrier that blocks the driver’s view.

That’s why Mazda thinks its idea for future displays is more about having a technology showcase — it’s about sticking its values as a company that makes fun-to-drive cars that fall into the price of an average new car. It also dismisses the notion that bigger is better when it comes to displays, contrary to automakers such as Tesla, Volvo and our entire collection of ScreenDrives.

Mazda says, “a car and driver should have a bond like that seen between a horse and its rider,” referring to a philosophy called Jinba-ittai. Look at the Vision Coupe interior and its clear the steering wheel is dominant in the interior. There is a clearly defined space for a driver, even if the interior itself appears to be vast with a very horizontal dashboard. The displays are behind the steering wheel and next to the driver in between the large horizontal planes of what would presumably be wood and leather on production models.

Mazda Vision Coupe concept
Mazda Vision Coupe concept
Mazda

While the Vision Coupe is very much a concept car and not intended to appear in showrooms tomorrow, its exterior and interior designs are destined for the next Mazda 3 and Mazda 6, due before 2020. And their designs also reflect the technology that the company wants to showcase under the hood: that the internal combustion engine still has life in it, even if countries want to ban it. The SkyActiv-X engine is lauded as offering massive improvements in efficiency and emissions for the gasoline engine, with improved performance over the gas engines the company is currently producing. And that’s even before any electrification other smaller automakers are readily pushing.

But like the internal combustion engine, Mazda thinks there still is a demand for people who don’t have to be early adopters, if existing technology can be refined a little more. With displays, Mazda hopes there’s a market for screens that do not dominate interiors, but rather enhance them.