This article is based on a visit made on Tuesday, 22 November 2016.
Previously on Sekai Ichi, I arrived in Hiroshima and toured the city for the day. The next morning, I woke up to participate in a free tour of the Mazda factory. The Mazda Motor Company (マツダ株式会社,
Matsuda Kabushiki-gaisha) was founded in suburban Hiroshima in 1920, and almost a century later has grown to be the fifteenth-largest car manufacturer in the world.
There are two inspirations cited for the name of "Mazda". One comes from the last name of its founder,
Jujiro Matsuda (松田 重次郎,
Matsuda Jūjirō, 1875-1952), and the other from
Ahura Mazda, the god of Zoroastrianism. For what it's worth, the company website cites both sources as the basis behind the name. More information:
(English)
Every weekday, the factory conducts one tour in English, and another in Japanese. The tours meet at this lobby in the headquarters building (seen at the top of this article). Once everybody is accounted for, they are gathered onto a bus and driven to a separate factory building nearby.
Mazda's first motor vehicle was the
Mazdago, a three-wheeled motorcycle/truck hybrid that hit the market in 1931. This type of vehicle is also known as an "
auto rickshaw", a class which includes the "tuk-tuk"s popular in southeast Asia. During the reconstruction of Hiroshima after the atomic bombing, vehicles like these were ubiquitous in the city as they transported much-needed supplies from place to place.
Mazda's first major sports car was the
Cosmo Sport, in production from 1967 to 1972. The first-series Cosmo had a top speed of 185 km/h (115 mph); a second series in 1968 could handle 193 km/h (120 mph). Its styling reminds me of the
Toyota 2000GT, another Japanese sports car sold at the time. You may remember that one from being featured in the James Bond movie
You Only Live Twice. The Cosmo, not so much. It was cheaper, though.
The Cosmo's role was succeeded in 1979 with the
RX-7. If you're familiar with the manga and anime series
Initial D, you'll know that the Takahashi brothers drive two different models of the RX-7. The older brother, Ryosuke, drives an '80s "FC" model, and the younger Keisuke drives a '90s "FD" model. The first-generation "FB" RX-7 seen at the museum is neither of those.
In the early 1990s, Mazda launched a couple of sub-brands such as Autozam, which specialised in sub-compact cars, like the
AZ-1 seen here. Notably, it comes equipped with gullwing doors, which swing upward from a hinge in the roof. Plus, as compact cars go, I think it's cute.
On the opposite end of the power spectrum is the
787B race car. It won the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1991, making it the first, and currently only, Japanese car to do so. You may be familiar with it if you've played any of the
Gran Turismo video games, where it shows up in higher-level races.
What was the secret behind Mazda's success? One factor could be the unique type of engine used in their higher-end cars. This is a cutaway example of a rotary engine, also known as a
Wankel engine after its inventor, Felix Wankel. Normal combustion engines work by injecting fuel into a series of cylinders, compressing the gas until it ignites, explodes, and presses up the piston, driving the motor. In a rotary engine, meanwhile, a triangle-shaped wall rotates within its chamber, compressing the gas and pushing the motor that way. Rotary engines are lighter than their standard counterparts but produce more power than engines of a similar size. Its users include the Cosmo Sport, RX-7, and 787-B, all seen above.
After all the history, we then learn a bit about the design and manufacturing process that goes into Mazda's cars. It all starts with the designers, who sculpt models of the cars, from a small-scale model of the car's exterior shape, to a full-size model of the interior, such as here.
Every car on the market needs to be crash-tested, to be sure that the driver and passengers will stay safe in case of collision. As you can see, the front of this car has been crumpled up, but the damage stopped right before reaching the interior.
This panel illustrates the many layers of paint that go into painting a car. Starting from the left, the bare sheet metal is overlaid with coats of primer, clear coat, and top coat. Visitors can see, and even feel, the difference between the coats at this display. It had slipped my mind how even the act of painting a car is serious business.
At this point, the tour progressed into the factory's assembly line. Visitors are not allowed to take pictures of the assembly line, so I can't show you what it was like. I can, however, tell you an interesting facet of their production process. Unlike other automakers, who have separate assembly lines for each kind of car made in that factory, Mazda's factory just has one line where multiple types of cars are assembled.
Once we're out of the factory floor and back into "camera-safe" territory, the tour concludes with a look at cars Mazda is developing for the future. These displays change every so often; for my visit, there was a big emphasis on hydrogen fuel-cell cars. For those who don't know, this type of engine uses hydrogen gas as a fuel, and emits only water vapour as exhaust. This technology is already in limited use around the world today, and I hope to see its use expand as time goes on.
Naturally, at the end of the tour is a small gift shop. In addition to Mazda merchandise, they also sell goods related to two sports franchises owned by the Mazda group: the
Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball team, and the
Sanfrecce Hiroshima soccer team. (Fun fact: "Sanfrecce" is a hybrid of two languages: "san" is Japanese for three, and "frecce" is Italian for arrow. Hence, "Sanfrecce" means "three arrows".) For everyone else, there are a few more cars in the room for you to look at or sit in. One of my favourites, seen here, is the MX-5 Roadster convertible, sold in North America as the Miata. I don't drive one of these myself, but it would be nice to someday.
Until then, however, I was set to head out for an afternoon on the island of Miyajima, next time on Sekai Ichi!
Hours: The English tour is held at 10:00 AM daily, and the Japanese tour is at 1:30 PM. Visitors are advised to arrive ten minutes before the tour's start time. No tours are held on Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays.
Costs: Free, but requires pre-registration on the museum's website
(English)
Address: 3-1 Shinshi, Fuchū-chō, Aki-gun, Hiroshima-ken, 〒735-0028
Access: From Hiroshima Station, take the Sanyo Main Line
(A) to Mukainada (9 minutes, ¥190, JR Pass OK). The museum is 5 minutes on foot from Mukainada Station. Note that only local trains stop at Mukainada.
Directions: From the station's east exit, turn left and left again, crossing the tracks. The building where the tours start will be directly ahead.
Website:
(English),
(Japanese)
