PAUL DEUTSSCHMAN ON THE MAZDA FURAI
My first impression of the Mazda Furai? A deadly serious race/street car decked out in a plethora of whimsical louvers and sculptured surfaces — a bit like an Olympic athlete covered with tattoos and body piercing.

Now I’m thinking, what’s wrong with that?

The Furai is based on the Courage C65, a full-on mid-engine racing car built to contest Le Mans. It’s powered by a 450-hp three-rotor rotary engine.

Over the past years, it’s been more difficult to distinguish between all the mid-engine sports cars that have landed on the scene. A “generic supercar” is an oxymoron that should never be built.

Fortunately, the Furai, with its Vader-esque qualities, will never be confused for anything else. The proportions are terrific and every viewing angle is fabulously over-the-top.

Designing a street car that must do race car duty is a major challenge. I discovered that for myself, while working on the Callaway GT race/street cars. What works in the showroom does not necessarily work on the racetrack and vice versa. Thankfully for the Furai, the radical adornments do not appear to be at the expense of function.

Great design is the result of finding the sweet spot between engineering and styling.

And the Furai is sweet, indeed.

Paul Deutschman of Deutschman Design Inc. is a Montreal-based automotive designer (www.deutschmandesign.com).

Front:

- The whimsical, wavy headlight/inlet feature makes the Audi R8’s look conventional.

- Pointed windshield is novel.

Profile:

- Looks exciting from every angle and is the best of Mazda’s Nagare series. Does a great job of combining race car functionality with wild, Vader-like styling.

- Openness of bodywork is perfect for this type of car and it allows a view of the cool “inner workings.”

- Overall surfacing quality is superb.

- Tiny greenhouse and short overhangs create an awesome stance.

- Painstaking detailing abounds. Check out the roof mounted rear view mirrors.

Rear:

- Rear clip and rocker panel create the side intake. Very inspired!

- Rear deck treatment is pure sculpture.

MICHAEL PISTOL ON THE MAZDA FURAI

As they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same…

A quick look at Mazda’s new Furai concept might get you thinking of that old tried-and-true automotive marketing scheme — get a super-fast rocket on wheels, plaster your company’s name on it, do the show circuit and voila! You get lots of media coverage, in minimal time, for very few bucks.

Yet, if we pay attention to Mazda’s new design proposition, you’ll realize that it combines two great ideas, with equal weight given to both. And ideas that are usually incompatible: the attention-grabbing supercar; and the environmental statement.

What’s even more intriguing is that the entire package is beautifully held together by Mazda’s new design philosophy — the ‘flow’.

In its relentless pursuit of a key demographic group — those elusive 18-29 year-olds — Mazda is reinventing the very basics of automotive design.

Firstly, the Sassou, Kabura and Senku concept trio of the past few years laid down the company’s new design direction, which was tagged as urban, optimistic and forward-looking. The concepts were well received, with the Kabura earning the prestigious EyesOnDesign award at the 2006 Detroit auto show.

Secondly, the Ryuga, Taiki and Nagare experiments brought to us the ‘flow’ concept — a subtle but evident evolution of “Zoom-Zoom” street creed — just in time for the environmental/organic/sustainability automotive movement.

Thirdly, the design process goes public. Mazda recently joined forces with website phenomenon, Facebook, to help create 2018 Mazda3. More than 400 entries were received, each comprising of a 150-word description and illustration of their vision of the future Mazda.

Furai brings all these elements together. Conceptually speaking, it pushes the company’s design philosophy towards a unique blend of visual hard-core performance, with the organic/natural feel of an environmentally friendly product.

Front:

- Prominent and clean-cut nose and front-end are of little aerodynamic value, but have huge visual presence.

- Front intake is clearly designed for the Space Channel aficionados, but it is also a clever partial solution for critical airflow issues.

- Lights housing is quite a visual achievement, considering the ‘flow’ grille. Perfect example of the “less is more” principle.

- Front badge looks like an afterthought, but we must remember that this is a marketing exercise.

Profile:

- Without question, this is the FLOW concept — Mazda’s unique design signature — at its best.

- Side profile is a bit awkward, even somewhat blunt around the front fender. Magnificent bottom panel execution; it ‘pushes’ the rear fender up.

Rear:

- Rear spoiler is a no-nonsense, functional item.

- Gorgeous design treatment of the rear end ‘flat’ panels and cabin’s roof. After all, Furai is the Japanese word for “sound of the wind.”