Mazda Badge History
Mazda Motor Corporation started life on the 30th January 1920, as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Company producing cork for gaskets, insulation and cushioning material. It was not until 1931 that the first vehicle rolled off the production line – the Mazda-Go three-wheel truck and it was another 29 years until Mazda produced its first passenger car – the R360 coupe in 1960.
Just seven years later, a company with global aspirations, exports to Europe started, and over the last 60 years, the courage of Mazda to challenge traditional standards and forge new directions in engineering and design has seen Mazda becoming the first Japanese brand to win the Le Mans 24 Hour race, commercially introducing the rotary engine in the iconic Cosmo Sport 110S, producing the world’s best-selling two-seat roadstraders : the Mazda MX-5 and with Skyactiv-X introduced the world’s first production Spark-Controlled Compression Ignition petrol engine.
Throughout the 100-year journey from a manufacturer of industrial cork goods to a multinational independent automotive corporation, the badge and corporate logo of Mazda grew as the business changed. The 100th Anniversary Edition models of the Mazda3, Mazda CX-30 and Mazda MX-5 are now in UK dealerships wearing a special badge that overlays the new Mazda badge on top of the Toyo Kogyo Company’s original round logo.
Established in 1920 when after a prosperous engineering career in Osaka, Jujiro Matsuda returned to his native city of Hiroshima, Toyo Cork Kogyo was renamed Toyo Kogyo in 1927 as the company moved into the manufacture of machinery. A red circle with small horizontal red lines featured the simple yet efficient logo of the company and was described by Matsuda as representing the desire of Toyo Kogyo to contribute to the world through engineering and the determination to continuously strive forward.
The first use of the Mazda name was in1934, when the manufacture of three-wheeled trucks began, and with its shift away from tools and heavy machinery, the company needed a brand name. Ahura Mazda, the god of peace, knowledge and wisdom, chose the name Mazda. It also helped that the founder’s Matsuda family name was pronounced very similar to ‘Mazda’. The logo was a simple stylised version of the Mazda name and it adorned the side tanks of the Mazda Go and appeared on Mazda’s growing range of three-wheeled trucks up until 1954.
Mazda also had a new logo from 1936 that was influenced by the town of Hiroshima emblem. The Mazda home town emblem features three waved white lines on a green backdrop reflecting the three flows of Hiroshima’s Ota River delta. The Mazda symbol straightened the lines and added the center of each line with a flattened M design. The three Ms stood for Mazda Motor Corporation, while the long side extensions represented wings for agility, speed and the ability to soar to new heights. This aviation looking symbol can be seen on the front of many of the later versions of the Mazda Go and in fact lasted well into the post-war period up to 1959.
Mazda wanted a brand mark to use concurrently with the winged badged when it started exporting three-wheeled trucks to overseas nations from 1949. The simple logo above was first registered in Taiwan in 1954, replacing the previous Mazda signature with a more calligraphic design introduced in 1934, and was trademarked in 21 countries around the world by 1959.
By 1959, Mazda was planning to announce the first passenger car that warranted a car manufacturer’s badge and one that could rest proudly on the Mazda R360 bonnet. Launched in 1960, the first Mazda passenger car was designed according to the diminutive Japanese ‘Kai Car’ regulations, but this did not stop the engineers of Mazda from developing a vehicle that concentrated on styling, durability and comfort that you would expect from a larger car, and it was proud to have the new stylish badge on the bonnet.
On the Mazda 360 the badge had a simple chrome circle with a chrome M in the centre with left sides elongated up and down to meet the outer circle. Despite being less than three metres long, the Mazda R360 Coupe could seat four adults and it raised the bar for microcars in Japan with attractive styling, lightweight construction and clever engine technology.
Both affordable and good to drive, it dominated the segment from the day of its launch, selling 4,500 cars on its first day on sale in May 1960 before going on to capture 15% of the domestic Japanese car market that year, all of which helped Mazda and its new badge become recognised across Japan. The new badge appeared on the Mazda P360 Carol, which went on to be an even bigger sales success, in fact this now famous Mazda logo adorned the firm’s cars until 1975.
As Mazda moved into globally exporting its vehicles this standout M in its circle featured on all the brands cars. When Mazda revealed the Cosmo prototype to the world in 1964, it featured the same Mazda M encased in a Reuleaux Triangle mimicking the shape of rotors in the car’s unique rotary engine. Enamelled in a deep red that contrasted with the concepts light metallic green paint, there was no mistaking the maker of this stunning sports car prototype. When the production Cosmo Sport followed in 1967, it wore the same badge but this time the combination of a blue background and silver detailing stood out against the Cosmo’s pure white bodywork. Found on the nose, hubcaps and steering wheel of the Cosmo, the ‘rotor’ version of this badge was found on subsequent rotary cars like the R130 Luce, RX-2 and RX-3. Non-rotary engine cars wore the round edged version right through to 1975, making this one of the most recognisable badges in Mazda’s history.
However, as was the trend in the 70s and 80s, Mazda moved away from the logo style badge, and for a period that saw the launch of landmark cars like the RX-7, 323 and 626, the brand used a very simple block type face logo with a focused central Z. The badge was worn by cars, trucks and vans in a huge growth period for Mazda, this simple badge adorned the bodywork, wheels and interiors of a huge number of Mazda’s and featured across the companies advertising, buildings, dealer network and corporate identity. Used until 1997, it’s still instantly recognisable and looks very similar to the Mazda brand mark used today.
The desire for a logo returned at the start of the 90s and in 1991 Mazda introduced a diamond-like shape encased in a circle, that was designed to emulate the imagery of wings and sun in a circle of light. However, just a year later the logo changed with the smoothing out of the diamond’s edges to differentiate it from the similar Renault logo, and it’s this logo that will be familiar to many Mazda owners, especially as it adorned later versions of the first-generation MX-5.
In 1997 both the brand mark and the badge was updated and the badge we know today came to prominence. The Mazda brand mark font introduced in the 70’s turned blue to represent Mazda’s new corporate colour, while the new badge saw V shape wings standing for ‘growth’ and ‘improvement’ replace the diamond shape of the previous badge. The expression of a pair of wings shaped like the letter M was designed to represent Mazda’s drive to pursue improvements and continuous growth with flexible thinking, creativity and resilience.
By the start of the 21st century this Mazda badge was globally recognised and in 2015 an updated blue edged silver version of the brand mark and a deeper silver version of the badge was introduced, while today the revised silver version of this (used largely on black backgrounds) forms the centre of the visual identity found across Mazda’s global operations and its dealer partners.
A journey through the history of Mazda’s badges and corporate identity highlights a century of innovation, pioneering design and engineering success that has seen Mazda grow from a Hiroshima cork product producer to an independent global car manufacturer famed for its stunning design, technology and customer focus. Over one hundred years of business, these are the badges that have adorned the Mazda cars that defied convention, won awards, captivated customers and embodied Mazda’s vibrant history.
Today’s Mazda badge is recognised across the world and adorns the modern line-up, including Mazda’s first battery-electric car, the all-new Mazda MX-30.
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