Mazda’s Ikuo Maeda is Autocar’s 2020 Design Hero

During the recently concluded 2020 Autocar Awards, Mazda’s Ikuo Maeda was named the Design Hero of the year. The award is handed to Maeda in recognition of how Mazda designs have evolved throughout the years to become beautiful cars that it is now.

There is no denying that Mazdas are one of the most beautiful cars you can buy now on the market. But a look back in the history books, and you are reminded Mazda don’t always have beautiful and emotional cars to boast.

Under the watchful eye of design boss Ikuo Maeda, there is a clear change in direction since the turn of the century. Mazda introduced designs that appealed to the emotions of car buyers and focus on driving dynamics with the Kodo: Soul of Motion design language.

Car designing seems to run in Ikuo’s blood. His father, Matasaburo, was the man who penned the cult favourite rotary first-generation Mazda RX-7.

The legacy that Ikuo continued on by penning the RX-8 along with Mazda’s most popular recent concepts like the Vision Coupe and RX-Vision. 

In an interview with Autocar, Maeda highlighted that these concepts were among his favourites over the years. Production models that rank high in his favourites are the latest Mazda MX-5 and Mazda 3. We agree that the current Mazda 3 is the most beautiful car yet!

When asked about non-Mazda favourite car designs, Maeda instantly named the Jaguar E-Type for “its proportions and that beautifully long nose”.

Reflecting on his 35 years with Mazda, Maeda told Autocar: “There’s been good and bad times but we’ve always been persistent about protecting the beauty of form. Especially in the last decade, we’ve started to implement a particular expression and people have started to recognise Mazda design very clearly.”

But don’t expect any drastic change from Mazda’s design, as Maeda plans to evolve Mazda’s already beautiful designs subtly as time goes. “There won’t be any drastic change. We will continue to pursue simplicity in our design. Although it’s simple, you’re also trying to convey strength, passion and emotion. That’s the major thing we’re working on.”

On the topic of car design’s direction in the current era, Maeda says: “I believe car design is at a very major crossroads. Some designs are going in the public transportation direction and some are starting to lose ‘automotiveness’ from their design.

“We are in a critical phase now. When we design vehicles, we always want our customers to love the design and own those vehicles forever. Given the trend for car sharing – for those people who don’t own cars – it’s difficult to think about them in design because I always want to design cars for car lovers.”

If you’re still wondering if the RX-Vision will ultimately come to life, Maeda claims that he has a scale model of the RX-Vision sitting on his desk as a motivation to realise his life’s work to see the concept turn into a production car.

Congratulations to the Father of Kodo Design!