Our friend Shawnz, who you may remember from the Mazda RX-8 Coupe project we showed you last February, sent us these teaser trailers from a video that is currently being prepared to showcase a very large gathering of the rotary-powered sports cars that was held on the streets of Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Mazda, the maker of cars such as the RX-7, RX-8 and MX-5/Miata, turned 90 this month. So what a better time to take a trip down memory lane and see how the Japanese company’s logo and cars evolved over the past century.
The first corporate logo dates back to 1936. It was registered as a trademark when Mazda began manufacturing its first three-wheeler. The name itself is a derivative from Ahura Mazda, the god of wisdom, intelligence and harmony in early Asian cultures. It also derives from the anglicized version of the founder’s name, Jujiro Matsuda.
In order to take full advantage of the aftermarket fanboys trolling around SEMA, Mazda released more than a few examples of the paths tuners could take when modifying its MX-5 roadster, Mazda2, and Mazda3 models.
The Mazda2s seen here are designed with two different goals in mind: looking slick on the street, or tearing it up at the track.
The Mazda2 Street keeps it simple by getting lowered on a set of 15x9s and adding some lower-body graphics, while the Mazda2 Evil Track gets the same rims, more aggressive vinyl, and enough safety/racing gear to meet NASA and SCCA standards. The "Evil Track" also wears a Mazda Design body kit and rides on H&R coilovers.
If you're from the UK, this is your last chance to buy a new Mazda RX-8 as less than 100 examples of the four-seater sports car remain in stock after production in Hiroshima of the right hand drive models for Britain ended. As is the case with Honda's Civic Type R hot hatch, the RX-8's rotary engine fell victim to Europe's looming Euro 5 emissions standard. According to Mazda, UK customers purchased 14% of 186,632 total global RX-8 sales since 2003 launch.
