2016 Mazda CX3 Instrumented Test Review Car and Driver
Mazda Motor Corporation typically called simply Mazda, is often a Japanese multinational automaker operating out of Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the vast majority of which (nearly a million) were stated in the company's Japanese plants, with all the remainder originating from a variety of other plants worldwide. In 2015, Mazda was the fifteenth biggest automaker by production worldwide.Mazda began because Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd, founded in Hiroshima, Japan, 30 January 1920. Toyo Cork Kogyo renamed itself to Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. in 1927. In the late 1920s the corporation had to be saved from bankruptcy by Hiroshima Saving Bank as well as other business leaders in Hiroshima.In 1931 Toyo Kogyo moved from manufacturing machine tools to vehicles together with the introduction with the Mazda-Go autorickshaw. Toyo Kogyo produced weapons with the Japanese military over the Second World War, such as the series 30 through 35 Type 99 rifle. The company formally adopted the Mazda name 26 years ago, though every automobile sold in the first place bore that name. The Mazda R360 has been around since 1960, and then the Mazda Carol in 1962.Mazda Cosmo SportBeginning within the 1960s, Mazda was inspired from the NSU Ro 80 and made a decision to put a serious engineering effort into development on the Wankel rotary engine as a means of differentiating itself off their Japanese auto companies. The company formed an enterprise relationship with German company NSU and began using the limited-production Cosmo Sport of 1967, and continuing to this particular day together with the Pro Mazda Championship, Mazda is one of the sole manufacturer of Wankel-type engines for that automotive market, largely by way of attrition (NSU and Citroën both threw in the towel on the design in the 1970s, and prototype Corvette efforts by General Motors never made it to production.This effort to make attention to itself apparently helped, as Mazda rapidly started to export its vehicles. Both piston-powered and rotary-powered models made their way world wide. The rotary models quickly came into common use for their mixture of good power and light-weight weight when compared with piston-engined competitors that required heavier V6 or V8 engines to generate the same power. The R100 along with the RX series (RX-2, RX-3, and RX-4) led send out export efforts.During 1968, Mazda started formal operations in Canada (MazdaCanada) although Mazdas were noticed in Canada around 1959. In 1970, Mazda formally entered the American market (Mazda North American Operations) and was very successful there, going in terms of to create the Mazda Rotary Pickup (based around the conventional piston-powered B-Series model) solely for North American buyers. To this day, Mazda remains to be the only automaker to get produced a Wankel-powered vehicle. Additionally, it is additionally the only marque to possess ever offered a rotary-powered bus (the Mazda Parkway, offered only in Japan) or station wagon (inside the RX-3 and RX-4 lines for sure markets). After nine many years of development, Mazda finally launched its new model inside the U.S. in 1970.Mazda's rotary success continued prior to the onset from the 1973 oil crisis. As American buyers (and also those in other nations) quickly ventured into vehicles with better fuel efficiency, the relatively thirsty rotary-powered models started fall out of favor. Combined with being the least-efficient automaker in Japan (regarding productivity), inability to conform to excess inventory and over-reliance around the U.S. market, this company suffered a huge reduction in 1975. An already heavily indebted Toyo Kogyo was for the verge of bankruptcy and was just saved with the intervention of Sumitomo keiretsu group, namely Sumitomo Bank, along with the companies subcontractors and distributors. However, this company had not totally turned its back on piston engines, because it continued to provide a selection of four-cylinder models through the entire 1970s. The smaller Familia line particularly became extremely important to Mazda's worldwide sales after 1973, as did the somewhat larger Capella series.Mazda RX-7 (first generation)Mazda refocused its efforts and created the rotary engine a choice to the sporting motorist rather than mainstream powerplant. Starting using the lightweight RX-7 in 1978 and continuing using the modern RX-8, Mazda has continued its dedication to the unique powerplant. This switch in focus also resulted within the development of another lightweight racecar, the piston-powered Mazda MX-5 Miata (sold since the Eunos and later on Mazda Roadster in Japan), inspired through the concept 'jinba ittai'. Introduced in 1989 to worldwide acclaim, the Roadster is widely credited with reviving the concept in the small sports vehicle after its decline inside the late 1970s.