Mazda, one of the more prolific concept car producers, unveiled the Nagare concept at the 2006 LA Motor Show.
Nagare, Japanese for 'flow', was designed to create a sense of movement while stationary. The first of three concepts Mazda intend to reveal throughout the 2006-2007 motor show season, the Nagare is far from production ready, about 15 years away in total. "We're looking well down the road with Nagare. We want to suggest where Mazda design will be in 2020. To do that, we redefined basic proportions and the idea of driving without losing the emotional involvement. Mazda's driving spirit will be enhanced and intensified by Nagare." Says Franz von Holzhausen, Mazda North American Operations' (MNAO) Director of Design and lead designer of the Nagare concept.
During the design process of creating the Nagare, Mazda's designers looked at how motion can affect its surroundings: how wind shapes sand in the desert, how water moves across the ocean floor, and the look of lava flowing down a mountainside.
von Holzhausen continues, "We began by developing a surface or textural language that describes flow. The motion of the vehicle is defined by, and evident in, the texture of its interior and exterior surfaces. There is no right or wrong way to capture the impression of motion, so each of the concepts we present throughout this global show season will embody a different interpretation of our new surface language."
Inside the Mazda Nagare is a centrally mounted drivers seat and 3 passenger seats behind. Access to the interior is via forward and upward swinging butterfly doors.
Mazda envision a hydrogen fueled rotary engine for the Nagare's power source.