A few weeks ago the Mazda Motor Belux PR Manager Peter Gemoets surprised us with a nice booklet about Mazda design. We already had uttered at many occasions to him our fascination for the design language of Mazda’s prototypes and cars, and he therefore sent us this interesting publication. Needless to say that we want to share this with you…

The Nagare concept

After lots of brainstorming, sketching, research and feasibility studies the Nagare design language literally took shape in the form of the Nagare concept car, which we show you here in the photographs.

But where did this come from? How did it evolve?

The first sketches of the Nagare, a "concept of a concept"

Nature as inspiration…

Laurens van den Acker, who had replaced in May 2006 Moray Callum as global head of design for Mazda, (and who has now joined Renault on May 15, 2009 to replace Patrick le Quément as Vice President of Renault Corporate Design), explains: “we turned to nature for inspiration, focusing on images of motion created by forces like wind and water.” He stated further that “such natural flow lines all lend an intuitive sense of motion.”

Chief designer Laurens van den Acker turned to nature as an inspiration to create surfaces marked by "flow"...

Architecture and fashion had captures these landscape textures already, now it was the turn for automobile designers to do the same.

The Nagare concept car seen from the rear

“Our new surface language is car-centric”, explains Franz von Holzhausen, an automobile designer at Mazda North America and who is currently in charge of design at Tesla Motors,”After studying the architectural approach, which tends to be strictly rigid, and the organic approach, which is highly fluid, we created the Nagare to straddle those two disciplines. It is fluid, graceful and dynamic.”

From here, the Mazda designers began to explore the possibilities of textured surfacing on cars, as if the cars’ surfaces had been naturally sculptured by air or water.

A detailed side view of the Nagare concept car clearly shows the sculptured surfaces suggesting "flow" and motion, even standing still...

Developing a surface language…

Conventional automotive design dictates smooth surfaces  on doors and panels, but flow is like a ripple or wave effect across the surface of metal, and following this concept created unique opportunities.

“The surface language of Nagare goes against conventional design thinking of clean, uncomplicated surfaces”, explains Franz von Holzhausen.

“We have been adding lines, which is kind of counter intuitive”, adds Laurens van den Acker. “But if we do it well, it looks natural and creates beauty.”

The front of the Nagare concept vehicle shows also this concept of multiple lines, see the headlamps and the lines on both mudguards.

The Nagare concept vehicle

According to Franz von Holzhausen, the Nagare concept car was actually “a concept of a concept”. The designers were exploring potential surface language and vehicle proportions that would suggest flow. It was simply a first visual blueprint of conceptual intent.

Also in the interior of the Nagare Concept car the flow lines are found, and the whole interior breathes and suggests the flowing lines of water and the edged lines caused by  erosion...  

But already this early concept car displayed a number of flow elements that would remain. Its sleek and aerodynamic from was to prove justifiably robust and its “fast” shape would inform all the later concepts, as would the wheels planted firmly in all four corners to express agility.

Most impressive are the two long butterfly doors that moved forward and up to enable access to the four seat interior.

With a centrally located driving seat and wraparound lounge effect rear seating, the Nagare concept car managed to combine driving dynamics and interior function in one innovative package, and, as the photos clearly show, the design set the standards and beacons for things to come…

Hans Knol ten Bensel