Different people go to an auto show to see different things. My personal target for the LA Auto Show was a concept car in the Mazda pavilion: the Vision Coupe. Mazda unveiled it at the Tokyo Auto Show a little over a month ago and it has been pretty well received. When I found out Mazda would bring it to Los Angeles I had to go see it for myself.

Front three quarter

A significant aspect of the design is the evolution away from creases in the sheet metal. About ten years ago the Mazda Nagare concept car illustrated the use of creases, and the idea spread through the Mazda line. I thought the show car was novel but I am not a fan of the translation into production cars. While some of the creases do illustrate a story flowing from one design element to another, too many of the creases feel forced. They form from seemingly nowhere and fade out to nothing, contributing little (or distracting from) the story told by the overall shape of the car.

With the Vision Coupe (and the RX-Vision before it) Mazda design declared sharp creases are played out. Moving on to the smooth sculpted surfaces has a risk - they do not show up on photographs as well as creases. So Mazda risks losing sales with people who car-shop by looking at pictures. Photos miss the full impact of the design that can only be appreciate by seeing how lights reflect and move around the body. I look forward to seeing how these ideas translate to Mazda showrooms.

Headlight

Another idea I want to see translated to production are the lights. We've had big round headlights for most of the history of the automobile. With the introduction of compact LEDs bright enough to be headlights, designers now have new flexibility and explored different styles of LED illumination. Some designs weren't very bold and laid out the LED in a straightforward grid. Some tried to spread them in a creative pattern, but an array of LEDs can easily make people think of arthropod eyes which can be unsettling. Some of those designs have been quite polarizing.

The solution presented on the Vision Coupe concept is to take the LEDs and form them into a circle so our human anthropomorphic brains can see an eye. But not limit it to a circle - the design plays with a line of light that carries through the eye (but doesn't cut into the 'eyeball') and also with the shadows cast by the sculpted surround that evokes eyelids. Futuristic yet familiar. I like this design though I'm not sure it'll survive translation to production. There are a lot of legal requirements on headlights that are difficult to satisfy and so are usually ignored in show cars.

Taillight

On the opposite end, the taillights use a similar theme of a line of light through a circle. But now, rendered in red, the circles look like rocket engine exhausts instead of eyeballs. There are far fewer legal requirements around taillights so I hope this translates intact to some future showroom Mazda.

Sharp nose

The final detail that really attracted me is the staggered levels of the nose, led by the hood that ends in a sharp beak. Sleek and full of personality, it sadly has no chance of surviving translation to production. Real production cars need front bumpers, license plate holders, and are not allowed to cut pedestrian legs off at the knee.

But it does look awesome.