106 may 2019 whichcar.com.au/motorcompletely forgotten about it, but he had not. He said he’d talk
to my boss, also Mr Yamamoto, but no relation. They agreed
that I should pursue the idea of the lightweight two-seat
roadster sports car. However, because the pickup truck is so
important to the American market, it must continue.
“You can work on the sports car as much as you like prior
to 8:30am in the morning, between 12:00pm and 1:00pm, and
after 5:30pm in the evening.” So I began starting my day at
6:00am, having lunch at my desk, and then usually working on
the sports car for a little extra time before going home.
I had heard that this is how Yamamoto tested people, to see
how much they really believed in their ideas that they would
work on them in the beginning on their own time. I guess I
passed the test! I spent more time trying to get the idea floated
and approved than it took to actually develop the car.
This was about 1982. A lot of people just felt it didn’t make
any sense. Mazda had no notion of slipping something so
entirely new into the product plan, as Mazda was somewhat
reactive to the marketplace at the time. For example the first
kernel of the original RX-7 was originally a redevelopment
of the RX-3. Ready for this – if you bought an RX-7 in Japan
it had rear seats! The RX-7 made the product mix because it
was replacing something that already existed in the market.
Bringing something entirely new and previously undeveloped
“IT WAS LUCKY WE WENT WITH
A FRONT-ENGINE, REAR-DRIVE SPORTS
CAR INSTEAD OF A MID-ENGINE DESIGN”