Mazda 6 Wagon, 2013
The Mazda is reaching for greater heights in a flagship for a new generation and a new level of driving pleasure. With the distinct design, intuitive functionality and exceptional responsiveness that are essential elements of every Mazda. But also blending a dynamic, emotional appeal with the composure mandatory for Mazda's top model. This, of course, posed challenges for designers and engineers as they sought to balance potentially conflicting attributes like form and function, performance and efficiency, comfort and practicality, uniqueness and mass appeal. And in the all-important reputation-making CDsegment, no less.
The SKYACTIV powertrains provide unrivalled linearity and responsiveness. They're a perfect match for the new Mazda 6's equally precise handling, founded on agile yet stable steering and suspension feedback that puts the driver in absolute control. This model marks the latest evolution of Sustainable Zoom-Zoom, Mazda's long-term vision to develop technology for exceptionally safe and environmentally friendly vehicles that also provide the greatest possible driving pleasure. To deliver top-class fuel economy, the all-new Mazda 6 combines the lightweight design common to all SKYACTIV components with uniquely innovative engines and transmissions and Mazda's unique i-ELOOP brake energy regeneration system.
It's remarkably safe thanks to the SKYACTIV-Body, whose highly rigid structure absorbs impact energy and channels it away from the cabin for segment-leading crash protection. Add in the enviable range of active safety technology, and you have an environment where the driver can concentrate on the driving experience while passengers relax and enjoy the ride.
Design-Moving People
As Mazda's next flagship, the all-new Mazda 6 had to be even better than it's predecessor - a model that already achieved top ratings from European customers as well as the media. With striking looks and harmonious forms and textures alongside the uniqueness that precludes the Mazda badge.
At the same time, it needed to attract the broad customer appeal obligatory for CD-segment sedans and wagons in Europe. Mazda designers undertook this complex challenge, working closely with company engineers to make their visions both feasible and highly functional. The result is a new Mazda 6 that will delight customers with its combination of superior build quality and functional, practical beauty that should continue to please the senses well into the future. One look at the all-new Mazda 6 should eradicate any doubts about the skills of Mazda's designers, long known for their unique ability to express motion when shaping vehicles. Their latest evolution is called "KODO - Soul of Motion", a design theme inspired by the movements of animals in the wild - and the look for the new generation of Mazdas. Mazda believes it has captured KODO's purest essence in the all-new Mazda 6, the production model born of the Mazda Takeri concept first showcased at the Tokyo Motor Show in late 2011. Sedan or wagon, it combines a muscular anatomy and vitality with a functional allure that is certain to gain broad market appreciation - and a level of quality that sets it apart.
The Exterior: Shapes that enrich the senses
This is a big achievement in asegment that is so competitive in Europe, representing 6.2 % of the European passenger car market. When designing the Mazda 6, the aim was to come up with a body that clearly sets the vehicle apart from conventional thinking, as unveiled on the Takeri and Shinari concepts, while still furnishing the vehicle with unmistakable dignity and purpose.
The prominent fenders and compactlooking cabin set towards the rear highlight the large-diameter 19-inch aluminium wheels, which only add to the car's composed exterior. The five sets of contoured spokes underline the sense of dynamism and light, effortless motion. And they don't just look good, either. Engineers worked with designers to improve stiffness and thus resistance to deformation. The result is superior handling coupled with reduced noise, vibration and harshness.
The prominent fenders and compact looking cabin set towards the rear highlight the large-diameter 19-inch aluminium wheels, which only add to the car's composed exterior. The five sets of contoured spokes underline the sense of dynamism and light, effortless motion. And they don't just look good, either. Engineers worked with designers to improve stiffness and thus resistance to deformation. The result is superior handling coupled with reduced noise, vibration and harshness. In what is undoubtedly some of their best work yet, Mazda's world-class design team came up with distinctive bodylines whose impressions vary - a sence of speed here, more relaxed there - depending on how the light falls. In doing so, they focused on the interplay between light and shadow, designing a car that one never tires of looking at.
The all-new Mazda 6 is the company's first production model to incorporate LEDs and a new halo ring light into the headlamps. The ring, which surrounds each headlight, accentuates the forward looking stance and mature fearlessness, while the LEDs visually extend the signature wings outwards, adding to the sense of speed.
The Interior: Stunning simplicity
Open the door of the Mazda 6, and this exciting yet dignified consistency continues on the inside. Interior designers paid meticulous attention to detail, enhancing shapes and textures as well as appearances. What they came up with is a harmonious, uncluttered space with an immediately perceptible level of genuine quality and tasteful coordination fitting for a flagship: An interior as stunning as it is sensible.
The various controls received the same finishing. The produces a clean, consistent look throughout the all new Mazda 6 while at the same time making knobs and switches easier to locate visually and therefore operate. Parts like the door handles were given a handpolished aluminium look, with soft materials used for elements that occupants touch the most, such as the steering wheel and armrest. The use of hard plastics was kept to a minimum, with a high-quality finish that underscores the refinement of the Mazda 6 interior while offering practical benefits to driver and passenger alike.
