Personal File: I waited patiently for the Mazda MX-5 reveal for many weeks. The car had been teased under a blue car cover and everyone wondered how it would look ... evolutionary, revolutionary, a more aggressive flavor of KODO styling or something even more radical? What was up Mazda's sleeve? When the covers finally came off last week we were presented with very taunt and simplified KODO language that I found quite pleasing to the eye.
As with other sports cars of the day there are hints of other vehicle design themes, such as a Honda s2000 type hood, Jaguar XK rear light treatment and even BMW Z-cars flame surfacing on the front and rear fenders. Having said that I still think it is instantly recognizable as a Mazda. That is actually what prompted this latest quick chop.
As much as I like the car, there is just something visually off-putting about the front. The headlights seem excessively low to the ground and are at odds with the belt-line. The rear lights kick up higher and are larger than the head lights, which, imho, creates wedge-type look that is not terribly well proportioned. The LED headlights look like they were made to be as miniscule to the design of the front of the vehicle as possible, which I suppose works, but it does take away some of the soul of the vehicle.
Creative Brief: The goal of this quick chop was to proceed with fixing the headlights as I had envisioned to create a simple and effective front-end presentation.
Headlight Comparison
Final Thoughts: With the edits, the profile seems to line up better wrapping around to the front of the car. Overall things look more balanced with a stronger stance as well. I would love to see Mazda look at doing something like this for a mid-cycle enhancement. What do you think? Did I make it better or worse?
All source photos copyright original owners
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