Gracious Flow: Mazda To Introduce Ryuga Concept In Detroit
What's this, you ask? Why it's a teaser image of the next Mazda prototype, set to debut at the Detroit auto show next month. It's called the Ryuga, and it'll continue the design direction introduced with the Nagare concept at the Los Angeles show. But where the Nagare was more about pure forms than a well-defined vehicular construct, the Ryuga weill be more clearly an upscale sports coupe with a corresponding emphasis on fit and finish. On a side note, it looks like Mazda's pulled ahead in the lowest-profile-tires-on-a-teaser-sketch race. Let's see Nissan designers shave that second nanometer off.
Press Release:
Mazda to Debut Mazda Ryuga Design Concept and New Tribute HEV at 2007 North American International Auto Show
Hiroshima, Japan, 12th December 2006. Mazda North American Operations will unveil an all-new concept car, Mazda Ryuga, and its all-new Mazda Tribute Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) at the 2007 North American International Auto Show. All attending media are invited to the company's formal unveiling on the Mazda show stand at 10:15 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 8, 2007.
Mazda Ryuga builds on Mazda's concept of flow. Nagare – Japanese for "flow" — debuted at the recent Los Angeles Auto Show and introduced the company's new design future. Ryuga – Japanese for "gracious flow," and the next generation of this exciting concept – will reflect a higher level of sophistication achieved through the use of rich fabrics, engineered fits and hidden details. Mazda Ryuga is elegant and refined, but with spirit and edge, portraying unique Japanese beauty.
"Ryuga is Zoom-Zoom defined," said Laurens van den Acker, Mazda's global design director. "It combines vibrance, confidence, fun and youth all in one ingenious package."
Offering another, although far more immediate and real, look into its future, Mazda also will debut the 2008 Mazda Tribute HEV. The heavily revised Tribute HEV will be the first advanced-technology vehicle dedicated to clean air that Mazda will sell to the public when it becomes available later in the year.
The Tribute HEV is one of the least-polluting vehicles on the road, yet still delivers the performance required by SUV owners. With a combined power output of its gasoline engine and electric motor of 155 HP, the Tribute HEV provides plenty of power yet meets strict Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEVII) and Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emissions Vehicle (AT-PZEV) standards in California – the strictest emission regulations a gasoline-fueled vehicle can meet.
Also on display at the show will be the all-new seven-passenger SUV Mazda CX-9, the five-passenger crossover SUV Mazda CX-7 and the balance of Mazda's 2007 product lineup.
Related:
LA Auto Show: Mazda Nagare Concept [internal]