14 Feb 2013

Four Ways The 2014 Mazda 6 Emulates A Luxury Car

Mazda

Mazda is making its cars look and feel more premium in an effort to stand out.

At a presentation during the press launch of the all-new 2014 Mazda 6 sedan, several executives talked about how the car is a class above in terms of styling, quality and content, meaning that even though it has a $20,880 starting price, it looks and feels like something more expensive.

Pinpointing exactly what lends it that air of luxury isn’t easy. Fortunately, Derek Jenkins, director of design for Mazda North America, was on hand to break it down.

Proportions

If you look at the Mazda 6 from the side, you can see that the hood is long and the cabin looks like it’s pushed toward the rear of the car. This was accomplished by increasing the space between the front wheel and the base of the windshield.

“When you take the A post [the front roof pillar] and pull that back, it puts the visual weight of the vehicle farther back over the rear wheels, which is what gives you that sense of power and prestige in the proportion of the car. And you really see that in the premium segments,” Jenkins says.

Details

Things that are overdone tend to look gaudy or cheap. But being too plain isn’t good either. The 2014 Mazda 6 has just enough details to catch the eye.

Jenkins points out the line that runs under the front grille and into the headlights. It gives contrast without being busy. “Everything’s done in this sharp, precise, knife-like quality,” Jenkins says. “Nothing is overly radiused or too round and puffy. Everything is very precise and clear, and to me that lends to this feeling of high quality.”

The wheels help too, he says. They are sprayed with three coats of paint for a rich gray finish, creating a look that’s similar to some luxury cars.

Craftsmanship

On the inside, the Mazda 6 pleases with its uncluttered dashboard. The strong horizontal line that cuts it in half creates a sense of spaciousness. “We were trying to avoid this kind of boom box, stacked-up center console and just keep things very clean, very simple,” Jenkins says.

The leather seats look like those of a European premium sedan with their stitching and rich grain. Using real metal for the door handles and other trim pieces would have been ideal, but was too expensive. So Mazda worked with suppliers to create a paint finish with high metallic content that mimics the look and feel of metal.

“In the past with Mazda interiors, we tended to do a lot of just painted silver surfaces,” Jenkins says. “On the new car, we used a lot more discretion on how we applied our liquid metal accents.”

Colors

Color is key when it comes to creating the right impression, and the Mazda 6 sports several new ones. Jenkins mentions the Soul Red and Reflex Blue as examples.

“A lot of effort goes into the sculpting of our vehicles … and you have to show off those surfaces with quality, deep finishes,” he says. “There’s even a new paint process that allows us to get a deeper look, get a brighter highlight and a darker shadow, again really highlighting the sculpting of the car.”

The 2014 Mazda 6 just rolled out this month, with a diesel option coming later this year.

Courtesy of Forbes