Can you please just stop teasing us, Mazda?
Full credit here to Taku2_4885, who posted on Japanese blogging site Hatena Blog this patent drawing filed by none other than Mazda Motor Corporation. According to the published documents (shown through Science Impact Inc.’s “IP Force” site), Mazda filed two applications with Japan’s Patent Office so far this year, with the most recent application published August 5. Beyond a simple word mark application, as we’ve seen quite often lately, the Japanese patent goes into substantial detail about a coupe model’s rear aluminum alloy spaceframe skeleton.
This particular drawing omits rear suspension and wheels to focus specifically on that structure. As translated, the document refers not just to safety elements of the crash structure, like the rear side housings and side sill cross-sections transmitting rear collision forces forward through the vehicle, section 35 of the application refers to the vehicle illustrated above as a sports car.
As ever, I have to mention that patent schematics don’t necessarily translate to full-on production models, especially in the near-term. These do bear a strong resemblance to what Mazda showed the world with the RX-Vision and Vision Coupe concepts, however…so there’s some reason to hold out hope here. The automaker has also shown it’s working on a straight-six, rear-wheel drive platform — a perfect pairing for this sort of application. It’s not the rotary Mazda faithful keep clamoring for, sure, but it’s still an exciting prospect.
A new halo?
Even the luxury brands Mazda vies to compete against bring sporty performance models to the table — and what’s in these patent documents could be the company’s answer. That said, we’ve been here before, with certain enthusiasts more or less shouting at Mazda to make this happen. Crossovers are good for the bottom line, but as a driver-focused brand give us another proper driver’s car to complement the MX-5.
Hopefully, Mazda will actually show its hand soon.
