Podcast Episode Details

Seeing Mazda’s New Concepts Up Close Reveals Their Beautiful Weirdness

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Mazda’s Oddballs of the Future

Mazda has just revealed two new concept cars at the 2025 Japan Mobility Show – the Vision X-Coupe and Vision X-Compact – and they’re nothing short of strange. While there’s plenty to unpack under the skin, like the turbocharged rotary plug-in hybrid powertrain (cheers to that), there’s something else that stands out right away: they look weird. Weird in a way that throws out convention, and I’m all for it.

In a sea of clean, predictable design, Mazda’s new concepts look more like abstract sculptures than show cars. They’re sleek yet offbeat, muscular yet oddly proportioned. They break Mazda’s own rules of “Kodo – Soul of Motion” – still observed in newer Mazdas these days – stretching it into something futuristic and slightly alien. It feels like the designers were told to stop chasing symmetry and just go wild, and the result is strangely captivating.

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A Coupe That’s Not, and a Compact That’s Bold

The Vision X-Coupe sounds like a two-door sports car, but it’s actually a four-door fastback sedan, and it might just be the design study leading to the next Mazda3. It carries a turbocharged two-rotor rotary engine paired with an electric motor and battery, delivering 510 horsepower, an electric range of about 160 km, and a combined range of around 800 km. It also uses biofuel from microalgae and a carbon-capture system that literally absorbs CO₂ while being driven – very Mazda, very optimistic.

Then there’s the Vision X-Compact, which could be Mazda’s sneak peek at the next-generation CX-30. It’s smaller, chunkier, and visually a bit tricky to process. From some angles, it looks modern and athletic; from others, a touch bulbous – especially from the rear. Both models share unusual lighting signatures: razor-thin LEDs that cut through body panels, a glowing Mazda logo, and exaggerated surfaces that feel half-sci-fi, half-industrial design exercise.

Inside, the X-Compact gets even stranger in a good way. Mazda says it uses a “human sensory digital model” with an empathetic AI companion that chats with you, learns your habits, and suggests destinations. Sort of like your best friend – no, really, Mazda's leaning into that. It’s all about creating emotional connection through technology – a theme Mazda calls “empathic mobility.”

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Published on 1 day, 12 hours ago