Mazda TaikiInternational auto shows are traditionally the best venues to encounter truly out of this world prototypes and concept cars. These sometimes bizarre, sometimes incredible looking vehicles usually push the limits of style and design, and are often never intended to see production. Instead, they work to attract attention to certain ideas or technologies that a specific automaker is attempting to promote. It’s a bit of a cliché, but one of the best ways to divert the eyes and ears of the automotive press and any car guy in the room is to drive up in something completely out of the ordinary.
Mazda is fully aware of the power of radical design, and for the Detroit Auto Show they pulled out all the stops with the 2010 Mazda Taiki Concept. The Taiki resembles something out of the most fevered imaginations at Hot Wheels. Described by Mazda as an attempt to visually capture ‘flow’, or the ‘embodiment of movement’, the Taiki Concept has a windswept look that seems to have been transported from the future and organically formed out of chrome and steel. The front of the car bears a huge grille with three U-curved chrome bars layered one on top of the other to touch in the middle and then fan out at the edges, replacing any visible headlights or turn signals. The Mazda logo is prominently displayed, slightly down-turned in the middle of the black grille. The front turbine-style wheels are 22-inches in diameter and come out flush with the arch of the front fenders, which frame the hood of the vehicle.
The Taiki’s greenhouse starts well in front of the dash, and the black tinted glass swoops up to seemingly encapsulate the entire passenger compartment. Along the side of the car several ‘ribs’ can be seen to protrude as the body narrows behind the fenders. These style lines run along the side of the car to disappear behind the rear wheels, which are separated from the body on stalks and completely covered by sheet metal, giving the Taiki an almost open-wheel stance that is wider in the rear than in the front. At the center of each wheel-covering ‘wing’ is the Mazda logo. Incredibly long scissor-style doors open up to reveal a 2-seater passenger compartment that appears to have been grown out of a single piece of material. The two-tone black and white cockpit has seats which encompass and provide support almost the entire body, and there seem to be no traditional interior appointments such as gauges or consoles – simply elegantly sculpted lines and curves along with LEDS and lights to indicate engine performance. The rear of the Taiki comes together in an elegant boat-tail, and the name of the vehicle is inscribed along the lower trailing edge.
Mazda’s claim that the Taiki’s entire design was inspired by the shape of flowing lava or windswept dunes is an accurate assessment of the entire aesthetic. Mazda engineers claim a drag co-efficient of 0.25 and no aerodynamic lift. The Taiki is meant to be a showpiece for the next generation RENESIS rotary engine, which has seen its displacement bumped up from 1.3 liters to 1.6. Mazda is calling this version of the engine the 16X, and it employs direct injection to along with a longer stroke to increase the useable power band as well as the total amount of horsepower produced. As of yet, there are no concrete numbers regarding horsepower and torque, but Mazda hopes that they will be able to generate impressive amounts of power without the associated high fuel demands that traditionally surround rotary motors. Given the amazing looks of the Taiki concept, it is likely that few people were focusing on the engine when confronted with the exquisitely style concept in Detroit.
