In 1974, when Hyundai made its debut at the Turin Motorshow, the company displayed a concept car of the Pony, Korea’s historically significant car. It was planned for eventual production but due to the adverse global economic environment, the project ended there and the car no longer exists.
While the Pony Coupe Concept was an unfinished dream at the time, its bold spirit helped kickstart the Korean automotive industry by directly influencing Hyundai’s first independent production models under its Pony nameplate which were sold around the world.
Now, the lost concept car will be rebuilt and it will be in collaboration with Italian design firm GFG Style, notably its father and son founders Giorgetto and Fabrizio Giugiaro. It was Giorgetto who created the concept car in 1974 so the project is even more significant.
When people think of Mazda’s MX range, the MX-5 Miata would come to mind. Or, those who keep up with auto news will know that the company now sells a model known as the MX-30 which is the brand’s first mass-produced fully electric car.
However, long before the MX-5 – which became the bestselling 2-seat convertible sportscar of all time – there was another Mazda which had the ‘MX’ designation. This was the MX-81 Aria, a concept car displayed at the 1981 Tokyo Motor Show. Designed by Marc Dechamps for coachbuilder Bertone, it was the first Mazda MX and now, 40 years after its unveiling, Mazda Italy has carried out a restoration of the small wedge-shaped coupe.
Original PR images of the MX-81 which were distributed at the 1981 Tokyo Motor Show.
To create the MX-81 Aria, Bertone used running gear from the 323, which was the first generation with front-wheel drive. On this platform was placed the futuristic hatchback form. With its gold paint, huge glasshouse and pop-up lights, it stood out at the motorshow.
The concept car had futuristic features, some of which would find their way into production models in later years. Back then, the features gave the cabin a radical look with the recessed square steering wheel, TV screen and side swinging front seats. Exterior ideas like high-mounted tail lights and pop-up headlamps were adopted in Mazda models too.
Discovery in a warehouse
While many prototypes and concept cars have been destroyed (or ‘lost’) after finishing their round of displays, the MX-81 was kept in a warehouse at Mazda’s headquarters in Hiroshima. In 2019, Nobuhiro Yamamoto – the former 4th generation MX-5 programme manager and rotary engine developer – found the concept car and proposed the idea restoring it.
The original sketches by Bertone.
Restoration work on the MX-81 after it was kept in a warehouse for 40 years.
It was supported by the company and shipped to Mazda Italy, where it has been painstakingly restored by SuperStile in Turin. Fittingly, the completion of the restoration was celebrated by the recreation of the original press images of the MX-81 in front of Milan Cathedral.
Mazda’s connection to Italian designers
However, the connection between Mazda and Italian design celebrated by the restoration of the MX-81 actually started even before the MX-81 was displayed. 20 years earlier, in 1960, a young automotive writer by the name of Hideyuki Miyakawa travelled to Italy and the Turin Motor Show where he met Giorgetto Giugiaro, then Head of Design at Bertone. He also met his future wife, Marisa Bassano – a Japanese-Italian translator with a passion for cars. During Marisa’s study trip to Hiroshima in 1961, Miyakawa met then-chairman of Mazda, Tsuneji Matsuda, and the pair discussed the importance of design in the Japanese car industry.
Automotive writer Hideyuki Miyakawa (right) and his wife talking with Bertone (centre) and Giugiaro (left).
Giugiaro putting his signature on one of his sketches.
Back in Turin, Hideyuki and Marisa began working as intermediaries between the legendary Italian design studios of Bertone, Ghia and Pininfarina and Japanese car manufacturers. The collaboration between Mazda and Bertone they helped to facilitate led to Giugiaro designing the Mazda Familia and Luce models of the 1960s, plus the R130 Luce Coupe of 1969. The relationship with Bertone continued even after Giugiaro left to work for Ghia, and the restoration of the MX-81 Aria is a celebration of that partnership.
The MX line begins
However, the Mazda MX-81 was only the beginning of the story of the MX badge, which has actually been used more than a dozen times across a broad spread of production, concept and racing Mazdas. After the MX-81 was the MX-02 concept car of 1983. This was a larger 5-door hatchback design with large windows, aerodynamic rear wheel covers and flared-in door mirrors. Unique features included rear wheel steering and a Head-Up display projected on the windscreen.
MX-02 concept
MX-03 concept
The one-off theme continued with the 1985 MX-03, another radical looking car. This sportscar concept was proposed with an exciting powertrain – a triple rotor 315 ps engine. The low-slung was very futuristic, with a cabin that featured an aircraft style yoke rather than a steering wheel, plus digital displays and a Head-Up Display. It showed off a lot of advanced technology like 4-wheel steering and all-wheel drive, while the long low body had wind resistance of just 0.25 Cd.
While the MX-02 and MX-03 shared some of the same futuristic design cues, the MX-04 was completely different. Displayed the 1987 Tokyo Motor Show, the MX-04 was a front-engine rear-wheel drive sportscar that had removable fibreglass panels. These allowed the car to switch from a glass dome-roofed coupe to a beach buggy style open-sided roadster. Powered by a rotary engine this ‘shape-shifting’ sportscar was never considered for production.
The designs and features of concept cars were futuristic but some ideas would be adopted in production models in later years.
But little did outsiders know that Mazda was already developing the MX-5, which would come 2 years later. Other production models to have ‘MX’ were the MX-3 and MX-6 production coupes.
MX in racing
In the 1990s, arguably the most radical car to have the MX badge was the Mazda MXR-01. After the rotary-powered Mazda 787B took victory in the 1991 Le Mans 24 Hours, the FIA promptly banned rotary-powered cars, leaving Mazda looking for a new car for the 1992 World Sportscar Championship at very short notice. A solution arrived in the shape of the MXR-01 prototype racing car.
MXR-01 racing prototype
Based on the previous season’s Jaguar XJR-14, the British firm’s withdrawal from sportscar racing, allowed Mazda to adapt this radical Ross Brawn-designed prototype and fit a Mazda-badged V10 Judd engine. Famed for its incredible grip and downforce, just 5 examples were built. But sadly, the collapse of the World Sportscar Championship at the end of 1992 spelt the end of Mazda’s world motorsport programme and denied the MXR-01 the chance of success.
In 1989, the MX-5 was launched and would become the bestselling 2-seater convertible sportscar in the world. (Below) It was followed by the MX-3 and MX-6 during the 1990s.
MX-Sport Tourer concept
Into the 21st century, the MX badge has still appeared on concept cars – the 2001 MX-Sport Tourer/MPV; 2002 MX-Sport Runabout; 2003 MX-Sportif; and 2004 MX-Flexa. The MX concept car that really started Mazda on the road to another success story was the 2005 MX-Crossport. Inspired by the RX-8 sportscar, this was a sporty looking SUV concept with sculpted wheel arches, slender headlamps and bold shoulder lines. It would be the basis for the model that that became the CX-7, which established a lineage of SUVs that lead to today’s CX-5, CX-30 and MX-30.
40 years later, the fully electric MX-30 – not a concept car – poses with the MX-81 at the same spot where the concept car was originally photographed in 1981.
To know more about Mazda models available in Malaysia, visit www.mazda.com.my.
“I love this car. It’s more successful than the artwork,” was the opinion of Andy Warhol after his sweeping brush strokes had transformed the BMW M1. It took him less than half an hour to create the fourth exhibit in the BMW Art Car Collection which was beginning to capture attention globally. That was 40 years ago.
In 2019, enthusiasm for the mid-engined sportscar originally designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro remains. Already world-famous at that time, the US icon of Pop Art shared the same passion with many automobile fans of that bygone era. And the fascination of the unique special created by Warhol has indeed increased.
Highlight of the BMW Art Car Collection
Many fans regard his Art Car as the highlight of the entire collection which now numbers 19. It’s therefore hardly surprising that Munich-based automobile photographer Stephan Bauer spontaneously opted for the model when he was selecting his dream subject on four wheels.
Last year, Bauer emerged as the victor in the Social Media Contest ‘Shootout 2018’ organised by BMW Group Classic. He was given the opportunity for an exclusive photo shoot with BMW Art Car Number Four. His series of images to mark the 40th birthday of the M1 provide a completely new perspective on one of the most legendary vehicles from the history of BMW.
A completely new perspective
Against the backdrop of an old factory building in Cologne, Bauer choreographed a spectacular contrast between the brightly coloured Art Car and the dull grey of the abandoned industrial structure. At a subsequent outdoor session, laser lights shrouded the BMW in a positively mystical atmosphere. In both settings, the Art Car kept emerging from a completely new perspective – and always to perfection.
Andy Warhol painting the BMW M1 Group 4 sportscar in 1979. It took him less than half an hour to create the fourth exhibit in the BMW Art Car Collection which has captured attention globally.
40 years ago, the cameras had hardly been set up when Warhol had already finished painting the bodywork in all the colours of the rainbow. As the artist explained later, his speed was a reflection of the statement made by his work of art: “I attempted to show speed as a visual image. When an automobile is really travelling fast, all the lines and colours are transformed into a blur.”
