Mazda

The Mazda Story: From Cork to the Electric Future

Mazda’s history is one of resilience and doing things differently. Long before they built cars—and long before they started navigating the complex transition to electric vehicles—the company had to survive wars, rebuild from the ashes of Hiroshima, and prove that unconventional engineering could win on the global stage.

Rooted in their core philosophy of "Jinba-Ittai" (the oneness between horse and rider), Mazda's approach to every vehicle, whether powered by gas, rotary, or electricity, has always been about balancing driving pleasure, vehicle weight, and the bond between human and machine.

Part 1: The Origins and the Rotary Revolution

• 1920: The Cork Company Beginnings Mazda didn't start with cars. Founded in Hiroshima, Japan, as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., the company originally manufactured artificial cork. A few years later, visionary founder Jujiro Matsuda pivoted the business toward machine tools and eventually transportation.
• 1931: The First Vehicle (Mazda-Go) The company officially entered the automotive world not with a sports car, but with the Mazda-Go—a three-wheeled, open auto-rickshaw/truck. It became highly popular and helped rebuild Japan's economy before and after WWII.
• 1960: The First Passenger Car (R360 Coupe) Mazda entered the personal car market with the affordable and incredibly lightweight R360 Coupe (a "Kei" car). It captured a massive share of the Japanese microcar market and set the standard for Mazda's obsession with weight reduction.