Mazda celebrates a century in business with 100th Anniversary special editions
Mazda is continuing to celebrate its centenary this year, and the Japanese brand’s heritage-flexing will include a new lineup of special-edition 100th Anniversary models. All vehicles done up in this Snowflake White Pearlescent exterior and burgundy interior pay homage to the upper-tier versions of the Mazda R360 microcar—the brand’s first passenger car, released in 1960.
Of course, a special edition would be utterly incomplete without badging, and on this front the Mazda 100th Anniversary models deliver. Don’t expect Jeep-level easter eggs and conspicuous badging, but the Mazda 100th Anniversary logo can be found on the sides of the vehicle, wheel centers, floor mats, key fob, and embossed into the headrests. The standard (non-RF targa) Miata will also get a sweet-looking Dark Cherry fabric convertible top. Really geeked out about that badge? Here’s what Mazda has to say about its significance:
“This special 100th Anniversary symbol overlays the current Mazda badge atop the original round logo of the Toyo Kogyo company. The design of which reflected the desire of Mazda founder Jujiro Matsuda to contribute to the world through engineering and the determination to constantly strive forwards.
Returning to his native city of Hiroshima having had a successful career in engineering in Osaka, where having started as an apprentice blacksmith, he founded his own foundry company, Matsuda joined the Toyo Cork Kogyo cork company. After renaming the company Toyo Kogyo in 1927, he led the company into machinery manufacturing, which ultimately led to the production of three-wheeled trucks, building the basis of the Mazda we know today.”
The full lineup of 100th Anniversary models will be, naturally, offered in Japan. Zoom-zoomers in the U.K. will start off with the Miata (MX-5) Convertible, CX-30, and CX-3, with the Mazda6 and CX-5 remaining under consideration for now.
As for those of us in North America, availability for these handsome-looking special editions is up in the air, courtesy of the coronavirus pandemic. “In the midst of the global crisis,” reads Mazda’s American press release, “U.S. availability of the 100th Anniversary Special Edition models has not been announced. Keep up to date with Inside Mazda for future information and news.”
Given the absurd speed with which the 30th Anniversary Miata sold out, we have little doubt that Mazda fans in North America would snap up these centennial models in no time. And if you’d like to toast Mazda’s twisty road to success on your own, this mega-gallery of archival images should sate your appetite for a while.
