Mazda Taiki shown on Tokyo Motor Show

Mazda is about to launch a car with out-riggers and a freaky body. Yes it is Mazda Taiki which we showed before, but now it's shown on Tokyo Motor Show. Mazda has played with its 'Nagare' design concept over the course of 2007, with a steady stream of concept cars inspired by the natural rhythms of nature. Waves, winds, that sort of thing. And the latest, the gracefully swooping Taiki, is indeed named after a Japanese wind.

Senior designers have confirmed to us that a new, small production car will appear with this nagare-inspired look by 2009. So we ask ourself: Will new Mazda 3 be a small hatchback? Or a new, standalone coupe to take up where the MX-3 left off? We're not sure yet, but the news heralds the most important change in Mazda's styling since the arrival of the Mk1 MX-5.

This Taiki looks absolutely outrageous! It's stunning in the metal - a proper old-school concept car, whose graceful length impress and inspire, yet it all makes sense in the context of the Nagare, Ryuga and Hakaze concepts shown earlier this year.
This series of concepts previews a definite movement and Mazda is deadly serious about introducing the look to a showroom near you. Expect the body surfacing, and the adventurous new grille details, to make the journey from motor show stand to high-street dealership.

You'll have to wait a while longer for the Taiki's 1.6-liter rotary engine running on hydrogen, but it's working hard at this technology as well. Trials start in 2008 in Japan.