Mazda's Design Challenge entry: the MX-0

Mazda's Design Challenge entry: the MX-0

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Imagine an automotive future where cars are perfectly green and light as air, employing the most environmentally sound materials and propulsion systems imaginable.

Picture the amazing possibilities — and realize that the future starts now at the L.A. Auto Show’s 2010 Design Challenge, an increasingly high-profile competition that explores far-reaching and innovative concepts, pushing automotive evolution forward with blue-sky ideas grounded in real science and sound engineering principles.


For 2010, nine leading design studios were asked to envision the ultimate lightweight and eco-friendly ride of the future — weighing no more than 1,000 pounds without sacrificing comfort, performance or style. The results are stunning. Air power and advanced organic technology are only two of the major themes.


For the seventh year, the Design Challenge renditions are on display at the show, a perfectly appropriate venue considering Southern California’s status as the auto design capital of the world, with more than a dozen major studios in the area. It started as a locals-only competition, but this year, for the first time, it’s gone global, with entries from Germany and Japan — and three international entries from Mercedes-Benz alone.


“More than ever, automotive designers are able to experiment with high-tech materials and alloys, and this year’s Design Challenge has provided them with the opportunity to use their creative talents to look into the future, exploring the hottest technologies to fulfill the needs of the consumer and the environment,” said Chuck Pelly, director of Design Los Angeles and partner in the Design Academy Inc.

All entries were evaluated by an expert panel of judges, including Tom Matano, director of industrial design at San Francisco’s Academy of Art University, and Stewart Reed, chairman of transportation design at Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design. Criteria included aesthetic beauty, uniqueness of design, roadworthiness, comfort, sustainability, performance and user-friendliness of the vehicle.


Following are the design studios that participated and the futuristic visions they submitted.

Toyota’s Calty Design Research: All-electric and sans doors, the Toyota Nori — that’s the Japanese word for seaweed — fashions its unified body and chassis in a “Podular” form, created with a seaweed material that’s combined with a solid carbon-fiber weave. The Nori has four electric motors, one for each wheel, powered by a removable battery pack. The designers aimed to minimize weight — and environmental impact — by using the fewest parts possible.

General Motors Advanced Design California: It could be the ultimate luxury-sport ride of the future, an angular and aggressive Caddy that would blow George Jetson’s cartoon mind. Powered by an air storage tank and with a range of 1,000 miles, the Cadillac Aera (as in “aero meets era”) is a wildly innovative touring coupe with an advanced body structure composed of a polyhedral mono-formed frame with a flexible polymer skin. The Aera aims for a perfect balance of weight, aerodynamics and safety.

Honda Advanced Design Studio, Pasadena: Talk about a fun ride. Inspired by roller coasters and skydiving wing-suits, the swooping and dramatic Honda Air is an open-air, ultra-lightweight dream on wheels, weighing in at just under 800 pounds and mixing high performance with thrills galore. This Honda is powered by air, of course — specifically, a pneumatic compressed-air propulsion system — and its shell is made with vegetable-based polymer.

Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center Japan: Asia faces off against the U.S. and Germany in the global battle of the Benz design teams. The Japan team serves up the ultra-luxury Maybach DRS, which stands for Den-Riki-Sha — translated as “electric-powered rickshaw.” In other words, it does the driving for you, packing an onboard computer that interfaces with the automated traffic infrastructure of the future for hands-free transport. The interior is appropriately luxurious — all the better to enjoy the ride. Set the controls for Vegas and let the party begin.

Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center California: In the SoCal corner we have the Mercedes-Benz Biome, the ultimate in green sustainability, grown in a future Mercedes-Benz nursery and powered largely by the sun. Each Biome blossoms (yes, it actually grows) from two seeds: One grows the vehicle’s interior from programmed Benz DNA, while the other sprouts into the exterior. Both can be engineered into precise customer specifications — the ultimate custom fit. And when its lifespan ends, the Biome can be composted.

Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Center Germany: Who says future tech can’t have a human face? The German team takes a lighthearted approach with the Smart 454, manufactured by humanoid robots modeled after sweet and wise grandmothers. They’re called “Smart Granny Robots” (SGRs) and they work their magic by knitting together complex shapes and forms out of carbon fiber, utilizing advanced geometry to optimize the strength and weight of the chassis. The Smart 454 reflects the fun attitude of the custom-friendly Smart mini cars.

Mazda Design Americas: Designed to suit the global market of 2020 — and projected for production of 500,000 units annually — the Mazda MX-0 (as in zero) is a radical redesign of the brand’s MX-5 Miata, powered by high-torque electric motors that give it the handling characteristics of a flying saucer. With a huge power-to-weight ratio, acceleration is dramatic and instantaneous, with turn-on-a-dime cornering. The MX-0 is a stunningly bold vision that Mazda takes seriously as a potential production model.

Nissan Design America: The Nissan iV is a sleek sports touring car that showcases “organic synthetics,” a sustainable manufacturing technique that cultivates auto components like farmers cultivate crops. The iV is created from fast-growing ivy that’s reinforced with super-strong spider-silk DNA, forming a biopolymer frame that’s flexible and lightweight, yet extremely robust. Every detail of the low-slung and aggressive Nissan iV is engineered with renewable, high-performance strength in mind.


Volvo Monitoring and Concept Center: Jet-black and sleek, with the profile of a Formula One race car and the stance of a wildcat, the Volvo Air Motion balances elegant lines and high-adrenaline driving. Volvo strives for simplicity with this forward-looking design, using thousands fewer components than a traditional car, with powerful compressed-air motors that are as green as the day is long, cooling down as the car speeds up and eliminating the need for bulky cooling systems altogether. Specialized air-replenishment sites are used to refuel its airtanks. Powered by turbines that float high in the sky, the replenishment sites turn wind into electricity that provides air compression.

Bob Young, Custom Publishing Writer