PROFILE MAZDA
MAZDA – A HISTORY OF INNOVATION
When it comes to technical innovation, Mazda has always been at the top of the tree. It built its first car in 1960, but only a few years later, made a success of rotary power. We explore its history. WORDS: IAN SEABROOK
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hough it didn't build its first Mazda car until 1960, Toyo Kogyo Co Ltd had its roots in a company first set up in Hiroshima in 1920. Toyo Kogyo built an auto-rickshaw in 1931, called the Mazda-go. Three-wheeled commercial vehicles remained the mainstay of production until well after the Second World War. Toyo Kogyo's factories were spared the worst of the nuclear bomb thanks to the protective qualities of a mountain, though a huge number of the company's employees were killed – somewhere in the region of 60,000-80,000 of the town's population gone in an instant. Peace brought a new determination to the city of Hiroshima, and Mazda was, and still is, a huge part of that. The first Mazda car, the R360, was unveiled in 1960. In typical Mazda fashion, it wasn't a copy of anyone else's motoring vision, but an innovative little design that had considerably
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more refinement than its rivals. The key to that was the use of a four-stroke engine, with magnesium alloy used to keep the weight down. With a kerb weight of just 380kg, this was a true microcar, and the 356cc vee-twin engine could push the little car up to 52mph on just 16bhp. As well as a four-speed manual gearbox, you could specify a two-speed automatic with torque converter – pretty remarkable for a microcar at the time. It helped Mazda to sell over 23,000 of them in the first year alone.
HELLO CAROL Two years later, Mazda unveiled the Carol 360, which looked more like a proper, miniature car. It was far from just an evolution and used an entirely new platform with an entirely new four-cylinder, 356cc water-cooled engine. It had four seats, independent suspension front and rear and helped Mazda to take more than half of the
microcar market at home. The larger Carol 600 increased the appeal, but these were still tiny, 3-metre long cars very much for the home market. Mazda had signed a deal with Italian stylist Bertone in 1962, with the first fruit of the relationship being the 800 – the first Familia of 1963. It was initially only available as a van, then a plush estate, and finally a saloon in 1964. It was joined by the Luce (sold in the UK and other export markets as the 1500 or 1800) which was yet another monumental leap forward for a company that had only been building cars for a handful of years. Launched in 1966, the Luce featured sharp, Italian styling allied to a brand new overheadcam engine – pretty remarkable for a medium family car at the time, as was the fact it could seat six. It certainly helped put Mazda on the map. Yet, also in 1966, Mazda actually put a Wankel rotary engine into production. This was just three years after the first production Wankel
The R360 of 1960 was Mazda's first passenger car, after years of small commercials.
R360 gently evolved into the R360 Carol in 1962. Still tiny, but with four doors.
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