To create the “unflagging wings” present on the Mazda logo today, the Japanese car company has gone through a challenging history of development over the past 100 years.
Mazda Motors has its origins from Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd, a small company founded by Jujiro Matsuda in 1920, in Hiroshima, Japan. At that time, Toyo Cork Kogyo mainly manufactured machinery equipment. By 1929, the company produced its first car engine, and in 1931, it exported 30 three-wheeled cargo vehicles to the Chinese market.
In 1934, Jujiro Matsuda changed the company name to Mazda Motor. Some believe that Mazda was derived from Matsuda’s name, symbolizing the founder’s pride. However, others think that the word Mazda was taken from the name of the fire god “Ahura-Mazda,” and Matsuda chose the name of a deity rather than his own family name because of his humble, visionary nature and his desire to make the company famous.
Mazda Logo and various models of the company in 1936
Mazda produced its first sedans in 1940 but had to halt production due to World War II. On August 6, 1945, the atomic bomb dropped by the United States destroyed the entire city of Hiroshima, including Mazda Motors’ factory. The Mazda name disappeared for the next 15 years.
In 1959, Mazda returned after the rebuilding process, and the first thing they did was change the company emblem. Mazda then embarked on producing a series of car models such as the Carol, especially the R360 sedan and the Mazda Cosmos series with the RX-8.
Prior to these commercial successes, in 1966, Mazda completed a passenger car manufacturing plant in Hiroshima and started exporting to the US market. In 1975, to unify the company’s products worldwide, Mazda designed a new emblem with the Mazda name in the style we still see today.
Mazda Logo 1992 resembling Renault’s logo
15 years later, in 1992, a new symbol of Mazda appeared on the front grille of Mazda 323 and 626 cars, which were still quite common on Vietnamese streets. Initially, the emblem was designed as a diamond inside an ellipse, but when introduced to the French market, Mazda realized that it looked too similar to Renault’s logo.
Therefore, Mazda immediately changed the shape of the diamond, turning it into a flame. Overall, the logo still represents the stylized letter M, flying and burning. It reflects the aspiration to reach new heights of the founder Jujiro Matsuda. Moreover, it relates to the fire god “Ahura-Mazda,” the inspiration for Matsuda’s choice of his company name.
Mazda Logo from 1997 until now
In 1997, five years later, the renowned image designer Rei Yoshimara was hired to design the logo for Mazda’s cars worldwide. The logo is an image of elongated wings, symbolizing speed, agility, power, and stability. The combination of the soaring wings and its orbit (the circle surrounding it) conveys the message that Mazda wants to send to customers: Like tireless wings, Mazda is still flying to reach higher and farther on the path to conquer the peaks that Matsuda always aspired to.
Thu Ha (According to TTTĐ)
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