Mazda 3 Evolution

The Mazda 3 is the firm's smaller mainline car that often gets favorable reviews from the automobile buff press.

Its fourth generation has been on the American road for about a year now, so I decided that it was past time for a look at the model's styling evolution.

The images below are marketing photos showing three perspectives: side, front quarter and rear quarter.  Within each group, they are arranged by launch model year: 2004, 2010, 2014 and 2019.

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Side views

The 2004 and 2010 Mazda 3s had the same wheelbase and the windshield and door cut lines on the fender are essentially the same, so it's possible that the 2010 design was not quite totally new.  (Let me know if this conjecture is wrong.)

The 2014 model had a slightly longer wheelbase and the body strikes me as being totally new.  That said, the lower side sculpting theme is retained, perhaps for brand identity reasons.

One trend is the shrinking height of the side windows.  This view of a 2019 Mazda 3 shows that the rear is built up and more rounded, making the car a borderline crossover SUV akin to the Subaru Crosstrek, though on a smaller platform.  This notion is reinforced by the darkened glass on the aft side windows that offers some visual protection for objects inside.

Front quarter views

The converging hood/grille theme of 2004 morphed to a peculiar "smile" for the car's face in 2010.

The "smile" reverted to a convergent theme for 2014.  Variations of this can be seen on some current Mazda models.

For 2019 the grille abandoned the convergent theme for more of a seven-sided affair.  This view also shows the rounded rear quarter of the body.

Rear quarter views

The 2004 design was conventional, generally tidy.

Oddly, the 2010 back window shape seems to preview that of the 2014 grill opening.

For 2014, aft styling becomes cluttered with no clear theme, much like is found for some other Japanese brands.

The bulged rear of the 2019 design is evident in this view.  Part of this new theme is the elimination of sharp character line creases on the sides and fussy rear end detailing.  This roundedness is counteracted to some degree by the side window profile.

Another 2019 side view

I include this image because it has fewer distracting reflections than the 2019 side view above.

Cars' Facial Expressions

Perhaps this will end if electric cars ever take over, but due to headlights (eyes) and radiator air intakes (mouths) and central hood-related elements such as brand badges (noses), front ends of cars can seem to have faces.  Human faces can assume expressions reflecting emotions, and so it can be for some automobile front end designs.  For instance, I wrote about "eyes" here.

Nothing original regarding this idea, but just for some fun and a change of pace from usual topics, below is a collection of cars with expressions.

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Sad
I missed this when I was young, but other writers have pointed out that 1949 Lincolns such as this Cosmopolitan had a sad look that had to be changed for 1950.

Innocent, Naïve
This advertising theme ran when 1995 Dodge Neons were new.

Fishy
Oldsmobiles featured oval grille openings that could create a fish-mouth look.  This was the case for 1956 models such as the 98 Starfire Convertible seen in this RM Sotheby's photo.

Laughing
That's what this 2010 Mazda 3 seems to be doing.

Angry
The new 2019 Toyota Avalon has a fearsome expression.  I'd hate to meet one in a dark alley.

Insane
Equally sinister is the look of this 2018 Chevrolet Equinox.

Ford's Controversial Scorpio II in Context

Ford of Germany marketed a model named Scorpio from 1985 to 1998.  There were two versions, the second of which, sometimes called Scorpio II, was produced 1994-98.  Wikipedia provides background information here.

As of the time this post was drafted, there was a Wikipedia entry section noting that Scorpio II styling was criticized be several noted car buffs who proclaimed the design ugly.  I would not go that far.  To me, it was nondescript in the soft, aerodynamic sort of way seen from the mid-1980s unto the early 2000s.

Here it is, placed in some contexts.

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The Scorpio II sedan (there also was a station wagon / break version) was a six-window affair with a low, rounded nose.  I don't notice a large chin air dam, and the spoiler on the trunk lid is quite small.  Given that Ford was into aerodynamic efficiency ten years earlier, I find the modesty of these details puzzling.

Front end.  Soft, and not cluttered like current cars.

Two views of the rear.  Again, large-radius rounding that might have pleased General Motors' Harley Earl in his heyday.  The wide tail light / reflector assembly is clean with a dab of variety in the width of the upper framing strip.  See how modest the spoiler is.

This rear view is of a 1985 Ford Tempo, the company's first American compact car with proper aerodynamic basic body shaping.  It considerably predates the Scorpio II.  Its front has a chin air dam, but there is no trunk lid spoiler.  It too is a six-window sedan with a simple rear-end design that is less rounded.

General view of a 1985 Tempo.

1992 Mazda 929 ("Sentia" in some parts of the world).  Ford had ties with Mazda in those days, but I don't know how much that might have extended to styling.  This is a four-window sedan, but it has a rounded, spoiler-free trunk lid.

Now for the front.  Here is a Cadillac Deville from the early 2000s.  The hood is more raised and sculpted than that of the '94 Scorpio II.  Otherwise, the shape of the grille is reminiscent of Scorpio's and the headlight assemblies' overall shape in quite similar.  Again, a soft, uncluttered design.

Styling by Wind Tunnel

Thanks to apparently arbitrary (because round numbers are specified) and increasingly harsh government fuel economy requirements, car makers seem to be exploiting every aerodynamic advantage they can find.  One result of this is in the profiles of many standard-size 2015 four-door sedans sold in the USA.

Consider the following:

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2015 Hyundai Sonata

2015 Chrysler 200
What caught my eye and inspired this post was a Chrysler 200 parked next to my rented Sonata in a parking lot in the Palm Springs area last month.  The roof profiles looked strikingly similar, particularly where the roofline blends into the trunk area.  Other details such as window shapes, metal sculpting patterns and so forth differed.  That seems to be what stylists are allowed to work with these days, and not the basic shape of a car.

2015 Ford Fusion
The Fusion's profile is also quite similar to those of the Sonata and 200.

2015 Chevrolet Impala
Starting with the Impala, the next several examples feature a slight more dinct transition from the roof to the trunk.

2015 Nissan Altima

2015 Honda Accord

2015 Toyota Camry

2015 Mazda 6

2015 Volkswagen Passat

2015 Volvo S60
Volvo often goes its own way, though not as strongly as its late Swedish friend SAAB.  Here the roof-trunk blend is more an ogive curve than the other examples.