Crowning the company’s centenary celebrations this year, the Mazda3 has won the 2020 World Car Design of the Year award, one of the special categories of the World Car Awards (WCA). The Mazda3 is the second Mazda to be named World Car Design of the Year, following the Mazda MX-5 in 2016.
Introduced in 2010, Mazda’s unique Kodo design philosophy and its ability to breathe vitality into a car has been the driving force behind the multiple award-winning styling of the current Mazda range. Launched in 2019, the Mazda3 was the first vehicle to showcase the latest developments in the company’s ground-breaking Kodo design language – a more mature rendition targeting greater styling prestige through the elegance and rigor of a minimalist, less-is-more aesthetic inspired by the purest traditions of Japanese art and the beauty of space between objects.
Only through hundreds of hours of painstaking clay sculpting and painting work has it been possible to hone the Mazda3’s unique design that creates subtle undulations of light and shadows gliding over the car’s smooth body, giving birth to a natural and powerful expression of vitality. Creating such controlled vitality – a form both beautiful and simple – requires immense degrees of time, discipline and craftsmanship. Yet it is fundamental to the uniquely Japanese elegance of Mazda’s next-generation design vision, in which the ownership experience is further enriched by the presentation of the car as art.
Mazda has enjoyed many successes at the World Car Awards which is an annual contest adjudicated on by an 86-member jury of automotive journalists from 25 countries. The Mazda2 won overall in 2008, and in 2016 the current-generation MX-5 was the first car ever to win both the World Car of the Year award and a second category – the World Car Design of the Year award.
In South Africa, the line-up of the Mazda3 includes 6 derivatives in the Hatch category, and 6 derivatives in the Sedan category. A well-equipped vehicle right from the entry version, all Mazda3’s features the 8.8-inch MAZDA CONNECT infotainment screen, giving you access to features like Apple Carplay™ and Android Auto™. Also standard is an all-new 3-way layout 8-speaker sound system from the Active model, and the BOSE 12-speaker layout from the Individual model. Other Standard features such as the 7-inch TFT reconfigurable gauge cluster display, Bluetooth connectivity, remote keyless entry, push-button ignition, auto door lock, auto headlights & wipers, electronic parking brake, knee air bags and two USB audio ports, elevates the Mazda3 to premium status.
The World Car Design of the Year category, and the corresponding award, are meant to highlight new vehicles with innovation and style that push established boundaries. Craig Roberts, Managing Director of Mazda Southern Africa, comments: “It is a fantastic achievement to win this highly coveted award in a category that faces competition from all sectors of the industry. Mazda designers are passionately working to express Japanese beauty and form in all Mazda vehicles. The Mazda3 is a youthful vehicle, it can also accommodate a family, and it is one of the most stylish cars in the segment – winning this award is proof of that.”
