Mazda is dreaming of luxury again.
Just a few days ago, Mazda said it would readjust its brand positioning and gradually change to a luxury brand.
Founded in 1920 (starting with Mazda's parent company, Toyo Cork Industries), the Japanese company is still a century-old store. Its name, Mazda, was originally taken from the spiritual symbol of the birthplace of human civilization in West Asia, Afrura Mazda, which has the meaning of intelligence, rationality and coordination, and means beautiful.
However, Mazda, which has a long history, does not seem to have become what people imagined, but this does not prevent Mazda from living as it wants.
To use a not-so-appropriate metaphor, if the global car company is compared to a class, Mazda is the student who always sits in the corner and has been trying to solve the Olympiad problems that are difficult for many students, although in the exam, Mazda was proud of the whole class because he solved the Olympiad problem.
But the teacher immediately announced that in the future exams will not take the Olympic number questions, but Mazda regardless of that set, always addicted to their own world, buried in hard calculations, although other subjects can also get a middle level, but always not counted as the "standard" in the eyes of the teacher of the three good students, but is the campus of many female students often hang on the lips of the attractive male classmates, this is Mazda.
There are many stories of Mazda, but today we will not talk about the "Rotor 47 Warrior", nor about the Ryosuke Takahashi FC (RX7 FC3S) that even the Toei God of War can't win, nor about the Mazda 787B, which won the Le Mans endurance championship with a huge advantage of two laps, nor about the Rotor Singing RX8 with a displacement of only 1.3L, a maximum number of nearly 9000 rpm/min, and a maximum horsepower of 231Ps...
On playing the sentiment card, Mazda is indeed very good at saying. But what we're going to talk about today is Mazda's dream of a "luxury brand" with itself.
Where to start? Perhaps it should start in the 1990s, when Mazda modeled the Amati brand that Toyota concocted Lexus, an independent luxury brand that Mazda planned to launch in the North American market that year to compete with Toyota Lexus, Honda Acura and Nissan Infiniti, and in order to compete head-on with these three, Mazda spent $75 million on the brand promotion of Amati.
In terms of model manufacturing, it is even more costly to build a flagship model based on the Mazda 929, the Amati 1000, and even equipped with a powertrain of 4.0L W12. Unfortunately, before it was officially listed, Mazda terminated the luxury brand plan due to working and capital problems.
Perhaps, this has become a lingering shadow in Mazda's heart, so after holding the rotor engine, straight six engine and hybrid technology, as well as the rear-drive RWD platform, Mazda once again tried to launch an impact on luxury brands, but unlike the previous launch of the Amati brand, this time, Mazda decided to practice it himself, which once again fully revealed the "middle two" energy on Mazda.
Coupled with today's electrification background, car companies are eager to use a cylinder to solve fuel consumption and emission problems, but Mazda is the opposite, insisting on the upcoming new car equipped with a inline six-cylinder engine, of course, people Mazda is not the first time to do this kind of humble thing, in Mazda's view, less than six cylinders can still be called a luxury brand?
The above is too brief, which may make many people unable to understand why Mazda has always been obsessed with "luxury brands", so let's just talk about it.
Starting with Mazda's 4.0L W12 engine that year, it was the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show, and Mazda came up with its own "BIG BLOW" - a 4.0L W12 engine, which uses an aluminum alloy cylinder block, magnesium alloy cylinder head and oil pan, ceramic pistons and valves, maximum power 220 horsepower, peak torque 373 Nm.
The engine was prepared for the upcoming flagship model of luxury brand Amati, the Amati 1000, and was intended to target the Lexus LS400, the "King of Champagne Towers" that was in the North American market at the time.
The key is that the 4.0L W12 engine of the Amati 1000 is 12 cylinders, which is 4 cylinders more than the 4.0L V8 engine of the Lexus LS 400, and the power is also better than the latter, even the 12-cylinder engine that supercar does not dare to use casually, Mazda said that it is on...
What is even more terrifying is the design of Mazda's W12 engine, which has 12 cylinders in the 4.0L exhaust volume (the general displacement of the W12 engine is above 6.0), and the cylinders are similar to the three inline four cylinders distributed in a fan shape, that is, the true 12 cylinder (unlike Volkswagen with two VR6s to make up the W12, Mazda's engine is a pure W-type three-column type), its structural precision is beyond imagination; and although the design is complex, the width is the smallest, and the volume is only equivalent to the size of the V6 engine.
With everything in place, Mazda officially announced the luxury brand Amati project in August 1991, and planned to officially launch in 1994, with the first four models planned. If the Mazda Amati project is carried out as scheduled, then its 4.0L W12 engine really has no opponent in the high-end market at that time, and it is not too much to describe it as "one-step martial forest".
However, in 1991, the Japanese economic bubble was punctured, Mazda was in crisis, and had no choice but to announce the termination of the Amati brand in October 1992, and the W12 engine project was forced to end.
However, by this time, Mazda had invested $75 million in advertising and pre-heating of the Amati brand, invested another $500 million in new production lines and offices in California, and signed 82 North American distributors... But the Amati project was terminated, everything was in vain, and Mazda lost everything.
The stillborn Amati project has also become a pain that Mazda is reluctant to mention, so much so that we cannot find any records of the Amati project on the Mazda website or even the Mazda Hiroshima Museum today.
But Mazda's bad luck is not over, due to the investment in the Amati project is too large, coupled with the Japanese economic crisis has not eased, Mazda's life is quite difficult, so on April 12, 1996, Ford increased its stake in Mazda to 33.4%, becoming Mazda's "boss", since then, Mazda "committed" to Ford, until 2010, Mazda launched the "Chuang Chi Blue Sky" technology, salted fish turned over; it was at this time, Ford sold Mazda shares because of financial constraints By 2015, Ford sold all of Its Mazda shares, and Mazda was successfully "redeemed."
Nowadays, Mazda, who has been relieved for a few years, seems to have discovered its own "secondary two" true color, and wants to stage a drama of "changing life against the sky", but how easy is it to transform from an ordinary brand to a luxury brand, at least in the automotive field, this is still an "unprecedented" approach, so what is Mazda's arrogance, to do this unprecedented thing?
Putting aside Mazda's scale, sales volume and niche positioning, as well as the impression of Mazda models on consumers in the past, let's first look at the "cards" that Mazda thinks it can come up with:
First of all, and the most skilled, is Mazda's technology, and more specifically, engine technology, Mazda is a typical engineer culture, which makes Mazda have a unique charm.
For example, the first generation of Chuangchi Blue Sky engine and gearbox in the industry has belonged to the upper level, and now the second generation of Chuangchi Blue Sky technology has also arrived, SKYACTIV-X compression engine makes many people think about it, and this power technology is becoming popular. The application of the second generation of Chuangchi Blue Sky technology may play a key role in improving Mazda's product strength.
More importantly, to become a luxury brand, Mazda believes that there must be a rear-drive platform to be qualified, plus a six-cylinder engine to be perfect. Don't look at Jaguar, Acura, Lincoln these second- and third-tier luxury brands, the vast majority of consumers are buying 2.0T or lower displacement, but the lack of large displacement luxury brands is no appeal.
However, Mazda has developed a built-in inline six-cylinder engine and a rear-drive RWD platform, and also matched the hybrid technology for the straight-six engine, and the new platform, coupled with the form of straight six + rear drive, can push the Mazda brand to the high-end market, and these models may become Mazda's "stepping stone" to enter the luxury market in the future. From the current trend, although a small number of cylinders is the trend of the times, and the future Mazda straight six engine is certainly not cheap, there may not be many people to buy, but to go to the high end, Mazda does need such an engine.
Not only that, but the rotor engine that has been rumored to be revived, Mazda also intends to introduce it to the future range extender electric vehicle, in fact, as early as november 2013 launched demio EV, Mazda equipped the car with a rotor engine range extender, so that it has a range of 400 kilometers, which shows that the rotor engine is not too difficult to apply to Mazda's electrified models in the future.
In addition, Mazda has always been online in terms of shape design, sheet metal and safety. In terms of interior, perhaps the interior of the previous Mazda model is basically not related to the "sense of luxury", and the vehicle is not well insulated and the space comfort is poor.
To put it bluntly, the cabin of Mazda's previous models does not have the basic elements of luxury brands to "bring face"; but from later Mazda CX-50/CX-60 and other models, the "premium" texture can be clearly seen in the car. In terms of handling, Mazda has always been good, and the precision of steering and the supporting tenacity of the suspension are at a level that few models can achieve in the current automotive industry.
Having said all this, it seems that Mazda has a full grasp, but in fact, it is not necessarily. The premium ability of luxury brands mainly includes the barriers of powertrains, the shaping of brand culture, sufficiently strong product strength and the level of service at home, which together can bring users a sense of superiority of "I am different from you".
And no matter what kind of years of polishing Luxury brands in Europe and the United States, look at the most successful luxury brand In Japan, Lexus, it is What kind of efforts Toyota has experienced to have today's status, from name to product, Toyota does not hesitate to work, at any cost, continue to invest, heavy money to build; and Lexus has its own clear positioning at the beginning - the world's quietest and most comfortable luxury brand, to create a luxury car that is more Mercedes-Benz than Mercedes-Benz.
In addition, Toyota has always used Toyota's best craftsmanship quality to ensure its safe use experience, which has become one of the most important brand features of Lexus; and Toyota has made every effort to make people forget that Lexus is a "high-end Toyota", from the design language to the service experience, Lexus has always maintained a sufficient sense of distance from Toyota. Toyota knows that only by downplaying itself can Lexus become a "celebrity" more smoothly. Looking back at the other two Acura and Infiniti, because there is no such investment, the struggle has not borne fruit so far.
Unfortunately, all this is exactly what Mazda lacks.
Speaking of which, we also not only have another reverie behind Mazda's transformation of luxury brands, although Mazda has had a brilliant past, but also won a wave of iron fans because of the uncompromising energy of design and technology in its bones, but the short-term strength cannot hide the lack of long-term strategy, and Mazda's market is too small.
Mazda also boasted that "as long as 2% of consumers in the world recognize Mazda motors are enough", but in fact, Mazda's current market has been greatly eroded, I am afraid that even this 2% can not be saved, so instead of sitting still, it is better to take the initiative to explore luxuriously, taking advantage of the fact that many people remember Mazda's cultural precipitation, plus the post-80s and 90s upstarts brought by the information technology revolution, with a distinct personality, exclusive technology, etc., staged a wave of dick counterattack story, under the siege of BBA tore a hole, Hurry up and squeeze into the car; it's late, maybe not even a chance.
However, now even the BBA is rolled in, and the profitability is limited Mazda, can it support a luxury brand? I don't know, but good luck.