Launched in 2012, the Mazda CX-5 was the first production vehicle to embody Kodo Design, combining go-anywhere muscularity, hold-all functionality and appealing dynamism in equal measure.įollowing closely in the footsteps of the Shinari and Minagi concepts, the Takeri and Hazumi concepts carried the same expression of motion that focused on the strength, beauty and tension found in the instantaneous movement seen in animals. Mazda designers closely observed how these powerful mammals used their entire body as a spring to convert pent-up energy into highly controlled motion.

Inspired by the beauty and power of nature allied with the emotion of motion, the first Kodo Designs were strongly inspired by the image of a cheetah about to pounce. The following year, Mazda teased the world with another example of Kodo Design with Minagi, a compact crossover SUV concept which later evolved into the award-winning Mazda CX-5. The Shinari was a four-door sports coupe concept which gave the vision of an animal ready to pounce, foreshadowing an exciting future for Mazda design. Therefore, “Soul of Motion” takes on a double meaning, expressing both the essence of motion and the “soul” imbued in the car by Mazda’s master craftsmen. We believe that a form sincerely and painstakingly made by human hands gets a soul,” Ikuo Maeda explains. This idea is central to the way Mazda has always thought about design: “In Japan, we feel that craftsmen inject life into what they make. The word Kodo literally translates as “heartbeat”, but with the added meaning of filling something with life of giving it a soul.

Introduced ten years ago at the 2010 LA Motor Show with the Shinari concept car, Kodo Design has been defining and elevating Mazda’s award-winning styling ever since, with its core principle remaining unchanged: to explore the powerful and irresistible beauty of natural movement in a still object. With the “Kodo – Soul of Motion” design philosophy, Head Designer Ikuo Maeda set a bold new direction for design at Mazda. Car Wheels and Parts 3D Modeling TutorialsĮxpressing the “Soul of Motion”, the Kodo design philosophy aims at transposing the beauty of movement into a still object.

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