VIDEO: These Mazda at 100 videos are pretty nifty

Mazda is now 100 years old, and it’s done a lot over the past century. To prove it, the company has dug into its archives to put together some videos, mixed with newer footage, showing their highlights and imparting their carmaking philosophy. Mazda UK just released the English versions of the videos, and if you’re a Mazdafarian (or just a general fan of clever cars) they convey a strong sense of history and surmounting the odds.

The first video is simply a slideshow of pretty much every Mazda model ever made. It’s interspersed with a some action footage of cars like the Cosmo Sport and Familia/GLC in period.

The next video shows Mazda’s very early years, starting from when it was still harvesting cork from the forests of Hiroshima to the development of its first three-wheeled truck.

Then comes the development of the rotary engine. You see Kenichi Yamamoto and his band of merry engineers working on the motor of the future, the launch of the Cosmo Sport, the 787B’s victory at Le Mans, and the upcoming MX-30.

Mazda’s technological innovations can’t really be crammed into such a short video, but highlights include the rotary engine, Mazda’s human-centric engineering methods, and the sparkless ignition SkyActiv-X. Sorry, Miller-cycle Millenia!

Mazda prides itself on being the company that uses the most clay in the design process among all the major carmakers. It’s one of the reasons it continues to churn out stunningly sexy concepts and production cars.

That’s a good segue into the next video, which is about Mazda’s Kodo design philosophy. It’s translated as “soul of motion”,  but in the real world it means traditionally good-looking cars that don’t give in to gimmicky styling fads with the useless fake vents and jarring angles that seem to on trend these days.

And finally, there’s a short video that shows how a Mazda is born. From sheetmetal to final form, it’s a peek inside the Mazda factory for those who haven’t been on the plant tour in Hiroshima.

It’s a neat little series, if a bit brief. If anything, it makes us yearn for more in-depth videos on each of these topics. Hopefully there will be more to come as the anniversary year continues.