AutoblogGreen writers recently got the chance to hear the Chief of Mazda’s US design team, Franz von Holzhausen, give an insight into the style and design culture at Mazda. Though the name sounds like a European stylist, Holzhausen was born in Simsbury, Connecticut and is now based in California.
He reveals that specific models and concepts at Mazda are taken from nature with designs that are more likely flowing and organic than the blocky shapes seen in most production cars today. But in his designs, Mazda’s persistent “Zoom, Zoom” philosophy, as always, will continue to play a big role in the designs of future automobiles. More RWD and AWD models will be coming in the lineup, and there will also be a departure from its current range, plus greater highlights on interiors, too.
For the past 2 years, Franz has been the US Chief of Design for Mazda and is working out of their Irvine, CA design center, one of three design centers Mazda that has, the others being in Europe and in Japan.
An Autoblog writer describes this designer as young, informal and tall. Accordingly, he also resembles a southern California surfer. But when he speaks, according to the writer, he really speaks of design.
For the past few years, the Mazda corporate theme has been “Zoom, Zoom”. And since then, the company is delivering the motto with attractive exterior design, quality interior design, and excellent engine performance as well as handling. And because of this, Mazda is growing in worth and in sales in the market, which is a good thing for a firm in the Ford family of nameplates.
Franz talked about the show cars that were recently displayed at different auto shows. Like what he revealed on Mazda designs, each car he discussed was as organic rather than geometric or on steroids as some “muscular” production vehicles look today. The cars’ designs are flowing and integrated but not really ergonomic. Each car will be a front engine, rear or all wheel drive vehicle, a departure from the front wheel drive of most existing Mazda vehicles.
These designs will likely be a starting point for future Mazda cars that have to comply with the new US Energy bill (with targets of 35mpg proposed for cars and trucks by 2020) when it gets passed. The industry still has to wait as to how green the cars would be.
About Mazda
Mazda’s vision is to create new value, excitement and delight to their customers through the best automotive products and services. Their mission is to actively communicate with passion, pride and speed with their customers to deliver insightful automotive products and services that exceed their expectations. Aside from making sure that each Mazda OEM part is quality based, the company values integrity, customer focus, creativity, efficiency and nimble actions and respects highly motivated people and team spirit. It positively spurs environmental matters, safety and society.
By: Kraig Johanssen
Archive for December, 2009
Mazda Design Chief Franz Von Holzhausen Talks on Design, Style
December 19th, 2009Mazda Develops High-Strength Heat-Resistant Bioplastic With Hiroshima Area Partners
December 18th, 2009Tokyo, Japan, — Mazda Motor Corporation has announced that an industry-government-academia joint research project in Hiroshima Prefecture, in which it is participating, has achieved an improved exterior surface quality, high-strength, heat-resistant plastic (bioplastic) made of natural materials. It can also be used for vehicle interior parts. An automotive sector first, this new bioplastic is made from natural materials and is carbon neutral because of the reduced amounts of fossil fuels used to make it and the consequent lowered amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
This newly-developed bioplastic features is stronger – it has three times the shock impact resistance along with 25 percent higher heat resistance when compared to contemporary bioplastics used for items such as electrical appliances. In addition, it is made with a fermentation process that includes natural materials such as fermented starches and sugars which, compared with the process to make polypropylene, reduces energy use by 30 percent. In contrast to current petroleum-based polypropylene plastics, the new bioplastic also has comparatively higher rigidity, resulting in thinner molds and fewer materials used. These attributes hold great promise for better productivity in the mass production of vehicle parts, since parts manufacture frequently involves injection-molding equipment. Mazda will continue its research and development in this area for the next several years, with any new advances being employed in Mazda products.
Bioplastic
This newly-developed bioplastic is made of 88 percent corn and 12 percent petroleum. Mainly using corn-based polylactic acids, Nishikawa Rubber Co. Ltd, Hiroshima and Kinki Universities focused their efforts on developing a new nucleating agent for crystallization and a compatibilizer compound to raise the strength and heat resistance of the new plastic, dramatically increasing the amount of applications for automobile manufacturing.
This research was the result of joint industry-academia-government collaboration, promoted under the auspices of the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry’s (METI) “Consortium R&D Projects for Regional Revitalization” program, which began in 2004. The joint research conducted under this rubric has the goals of fostering new industry, creating new business and revitalizing regional economies in Japan.
The new bioplastic consortium project partners are Hiroshima University, Nishikawa Rubber Co. Ltd., Western Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Research Institute, G.P. Daikyo Corporation, Japan Steel Works Ltd., Kinki University School of Engineering, Nishikawa Kasei Co. Ltd., National Research Institute of Brewing, Yasuhara Chemical Co. Ltd., MANAC Incorporated and Mazda Motor Corporation. This is a consortium consisting of two universities, seven companies and two research institutes.
Seita Kanai, senior managing executive officer in charge of Mazda’s R&D, said, “Mazda and G.P. Daikyo Corporation are at the center of a world-class accumulation of automotive plastic module parts makers here in the Hiroshima area. Based on our rich tradition of sake brewing in this region, we’ve been accumulating fermentation biotechnology for a long time and Hiroshima University, Nishikawa Rubber Company and the Western Hiroshima Prefecture Industrial Research Institute – among other organizations – have an extensive history of research into the practical uses of biodegradable plastics than can be broken down by microorganisms. In particular, great results have been achieved through joint international research into lactic acid copolymers. So it’s safe to say the Hiroshima area is fertile ground in terms of research achievements. Together with our regional partners over the next few years, Mazda intends to continue its bioplastics research for the purpose of utilizing any advances we achieve to make better products for our customers.”
2006 marks the final year of the Mazda Momentum mid-term management plan. Two of the plan’s goals were to achieve 100 billion yen in operating profit and a net-debt-to-equity ratio of less than one hundred percent by the end of fiscal year 2006; these were achieved one year earlier than projected. Another key measure of the plan is to strengthen research and development efforts. As a company that values its social contributions now and into the future, Mazda will keep up its proactive technical research on eco-friendly and safe products for its customers.
Mazda will exhibit vehicle interior parts made with the newly-developed bioplastic in its booth at the Automotive Engineering Exposition at the Japan Society of Automotive Engineering (JASE) Annual Congress, to be held at the Pacifico Yokohama complex from May 24-26, 2006.
Notes:
1) Carbon neutral
As an example, carbon neutral can be characterized as CO2 gases released during plant decomposition or combustion being absorbed during the growth phase of photosynthesis, so any emitted CO2 gases are offset and end up producing a negligible impact on CO2 levels in the atmosphere.
2) Nucleating agents for crystallization
An additive to stimulate crystallization
A “stimulus” nucleating agent added to crystal acts as a catalyst and makes it easier to form the crystals. Polylactic acid has properties which make for comparatively slower crystallization when compared to other plastics and this negatively impacts on production efficiency when molding bioplastics for car parts. Given this factor, it is necessary to carry out the crystallization earlier by means of a nucleating agent. When the molecular chain is arranged in a systematic way, the plastic’s strength is increased and its heat-resistant properties are improved.
3) Compatibilizer
An additive is needed for a material that has two or more different types of properties, and when distributed uniformly, it improves the physical properties of the material. It is necessary to mix the polylactic acids with a combination of polylactic acid and an added element that is not chemically compatible.
4) Lactic acid copolymers
This is a plastic material derived by partly replacing some of the elements of polylactic acids with other ingredients.
5) International collaboration
-Participating organizations: Hiroshima University (the representative research institute); University of Massachusetts and Tufts University (US); University of Liege (Belgium), Zhejiang University (China). -Research content: The aforementioned research institutions worked together to conduct research and development into lactic acid copolymers for general use as well as use in medical treatments.
By: Dave Gosine
