Mazda Sassou: From Design Sketch to Reality

Press Release

A look behind the scenes

One of the most talked-about vehicles at this year’s Frankfurt Motor Show was the Mazda Sassou concept car, which hinted at where Mazda might be heading with a future B-car. Its conception and realization by a group of young Mazda designers from five countries under the leadership of Peter Birtwhistle, Chief Designer at Mazda’s European R&D Centre, is a tale of Mazda applied creativity that is just as unique and exciting as the Sassou itself.  Today Mazda Motor Europe gives an exclusive look behind the scenes at how the Mazda Sassou was brought from paper to concept car with original design sketches and previously unpublished photos.

Visualizing the Concept

“Sassou had to be a lightweight B-car that would appeal to young, first-time buyers and we began designing the exterior immediately,” said Peter Birtwhistle. “Parallel to this, the entire team – which included the interior design and the colour and trim teams – brainstormed with our trend team to identify what young people would buy into by way of future technologies. We came up with the Mazda Alive illumination concept and that Sassou would have an interactive, USB stick key and hard disc drive interior. Then each group began working up design sketches on how these features should look in reality.”

The first exterior design sketches were made by Luca Zollino, Mazda Sassou’s lead designer working with both Peter Birtwhistle and Moray Callum, Executive Officer and General Manager of Mazda Motor Corporation’s Design
Division.

The team also included Masanori Minamisawa, Mazda Assistant Chief Designer now based at Mazda’s European R&D Centre in Oberursel, Germany, whose input was vital throughout the entire design and realization process. The design language depicted in these sketches – specifically, the panel articulation of the silhouette, the Mazda five-point rear end design and the unique glass roof design – was successfully transferred to the final concept car at a later date.  At this point in development, however, the work of translating these images to reality had just begun.

“After we had confirmed our designs, we then began a phase in which the Mazda Sassou was literally crafted by hand,” said Birtwhistle. “This was the only way to project Mazda’s Zoom-Zoom design DNA through the futuristic exterior design sketches originally proposed. In fact, the final concept shown in Frankfurt is quite close to the sketches.”

Exterior Design

The first step in realizing the exterior design was to produce a 2/5th sized model, based on the finalized sketches, that was sculptured by the design team in Oberursel by hand using clay.

Parallel to creating this clay mock-up, the colour and trim team, lead by Maria Greger, had produced an exterior surface in Dynoc film, which could be pasted onto the model and removed without damaging the surface below.

“The 2/5th model was one of the most important steps in the realization process,” said Birtwhistle, “since it was the first time we got to actually see the concept. The eye perceives real objects differently than drawn objects, so this was the first time we actually had something we could work with.”

The model already contains many of the Zoom-Zoom features that help make Sassou immediately recognizable as a Mazda, including the front end which is an evolution of the Mazda RX-8 with a large, sporty-looking five-point grille and bonnet.  However, the model also has its unique Sassou fender design, which would later receive the chevron-shaped front lights as an integral part of the concept’s Mazda Alive illumination system. The European design team was now ready to present the model to Moray Callum and the changes he suggested at this point were carried out by hand on only one side of the model.

Once these changes were incorporated, a 3-D scan of this side of the model was made using point-cloud data. Advanced computer software then created an exact mirror image of the scanned side for the other side of the Sassou. This computer image of the concept with all changes was then used to mill a full-sized version from a rough “form block” covered in thick epoxy resin. The full-sized model was then reviewed in one last approval session with a further developed exterior colour in Dynoc film, which could be removed so the team could fine tune the exterior design by hand. This exterior version of the concept was then frozen as the final version. It was then caste for final fibreglass production, from which body panels were made, painted and fitted to the chassis.

Unique Lighting

Mazda Sassou’s unique Mazda Alive illumination system is based on the “Shoji” principle and was one of the team’s more fruitful ideas. Shoji screens are thin Japanese doors made of rice-paper that partially hide what is behind them. Opening them for the first time can reveal something surprising. Realizing Mazda Alive had ramifications for the entire process of developing exterior and interior design elements, as well as the concept’s unique use of materials.

A good example of this are Mazda Sassou’s exterior lights, which are one of the concept’s most exciting features, and one of the most difficult to realize. The team first built a full-sized functional front end based on design sketches and material selections, and tested it indoors, in showroom lighting conditions, and outdoors in sunlight. Changes were made until just the right type of exterior colour, surface treatment with translucency and the lighting technology behind this surface was found. Once finalized, they were milled using the same process as the body panels and then mounted to the front and rear of the final show car version.

“Sassou’s front and rear lights are unique in the way they combine materials, design graphics and lighting technology. It took a lot of testing with materials and paint and light technologies to get what we were looking for,” said Birtwhistle. “This process not only resulted in a unique lighting system, but the knowledge we gained will be helpful in future projects as well.”

Interior Design

The Mazda Alive illumination system also played a decisive role in the interior design of the Mazda Sassou. The interior design team, lead by Mickael Loyer, had already conceived a truly unique interior with an appealing look and feel, and that included convenience features – like a USB stick activated hard disc drive system – that might someday be employed in a Mazda B-car. The dashboard assembly went through the same design stages as the exterior did, from concept to sketch to epoxy resin modelling.

Extensive material testing was done by the entire design team to achieve the desired affect of hidden lighting, revealed in a surprising and pleasing way when an interior system is activated. 

Mazda Sassou’s high-tech centre stack, instrument graphics door panels and seats were realized using the same design process as the exterior.

“You can see by the dashboard sketches just how complicated an idea like this can be,” said Birtwhistle. “Mazda design teams, whether in Europe, North America or Japan, are not only artists and automotive designers; they are also highly skilled at applying their creativity in a way that can be transformed into real world solutions.”

An advanced interpretation of Zoom-Zoom stylishness, Mazda Sassou visually communicates the dynamic potential of the Mazda brand, and mixes this with a youthful lightness and surprising hidden features never before seen on a Mazda concept. The process by which Mazda’s European design team realized their ideas in this year’s most interesting show car is another example of the long Mazda tradition of thinking outside the envelope and having the expertise to make these ideas a reality.