Wearing a production-car hat and heading towards the updated philosophy of ‘Sustainable Zoom-Zoom’, Mazda used Tokyo to unveil saloon and estate versions of the car that first brought Zoom-Zoom to market in 2003, variously known, depending on market, as the Atenza or the Mazda6.

And a neat car it is, too, but not an exciting one – which is perhaps the opposite of the car that sits next to them on the stand, the Taiki concept that makes its world debut here. That continues an evolving line of sporting concepts following the Nagare (flow) theme and that started with the Nagare itself in Los Angeles and then progressed via motor shows around the globe through Ryuga and Hakaze to Taiki – all four of which sit side by side for the first time on this stand.

They make a powerful statement about Mazda design, which has regularly won praise over recent years, including the Detroit Motor Show’s Aesthetic and Innovation Award at last year’s show.

And talking about Taiki, General Manager of Mazda’s Design Division Laurens van den Acker says “while still further advancing the design of Mazda cars and instilling an even sportier and more athletic look, I challenged our design team to develop a new form of expression that evokes a perception of motion, even when the car is standing still. This gave birth to the theme of ‘flow’ design, as based on the Japanese word Nagare, which means flow, or ‘the embodiment of movement’.

“We turned to nature for inspiration, focusing on images of motion created in nature by forces like wind and water. Natural flow lines are all around us – shapes etched in sand dunes by the wind, ocean waves as seen from above, lava flows running down the slopes of a volcano. All lend an intuitive sense of motion. But it was in making the transition from observing motion in nature as an expression of energy to applying it to a man-made object such as a car that we discovered what a thoroughly exciting and logical creative approach the design concept represented’.

Taiki now represents just one possible direction for “a future generation of Mazda sports cars aimed at helping create a sustainable society”. Its technologies include next generation RENESIS rotary power, a front-engined, rear-drive layout, unique staggered two-seat cabin configuration, and extraordinary aerodynamic thinking. They also say the visual expression of the flow of air was inspired by ‘a pair of Hagoromo, the flowing robes that enable a celestial maiden to fly in Japanese legend’.

Designers even tried innovative techniques like soaking cloth in plaster then hanging it out to dry in whatever shape the wind created. The result of all of it is this spectacular shape, with a drag coefficient of only 0.25Cd and zero aerodynamic lift. The interior was inspired by Japanese Koinobori, the decorative ‘climbing carp streamers’ that fly in the sky at May festivals.

Add themes of calligraphy on the interior leather, a tachometer function represented by streams of flowing lights, and unique, totally steering-wheel-based control layouts and you may imagine that the Taiki is very Japanese, and very Tokyo, but its unarguably very striking.