Poor old Mazda. Its 100th birthday couldn't have come at a worse time, given the whole world is in lockdown due to Covid-19. But let's try and mark the firm's milestone with this announcement, which otherwise would have been made at the (cancelled) Geneva Motor Show: the Japanese company is going to do a 100th Anniversary Limited Edition model of every car it makes to celebrate the occasion. Now, before we go any further, the, um, Anniversary-ised range of specials has only been confirmed for the marque's homeland as of right now, with Mazda UK at first planning to bring in just 100 examples each of the 100th anniversary Mazda3 hatchback, CX-30 crossover and MX-5 Convertible later in the year (coronavirus permitting). If sales of those go well, Mazda UK will also look at possibly bringing the 100th Anniversary versions of the Mazda6 and the CX-5 to these shores, too. So what do you get if you choose a 100th Anniversary edition Mazda? Well, you get a Snowflake White Pearlescent exterior over a Burgundy leather interior, with more Burgundy for the floormats. This colour scheme was chosen because high-spec versions of Mazda's first-ever passenger car, the R360 Coupe of 1960, came in this combination; and, in case you're thinking that '2020 minus 1960 equals 60, not 100', Mazda as a machine manufacturing company began 40 years earlier, when its founder Jujiro Matsuda joined the Toyo Cork Kogyo company. He renamed it as the Toyo Kogyo company in 1927 and led it into manufacturing, from where it eventually evolved into Mazda. To that end, the Toyo Kogyo round emblem forms part of the special badging that you'll find inside and out on these special Mazdas, where it is joined with the current Mazda logo - look for it on the floor mats, on the key fobs, on the head restraints, in the wheel centres and on plaques on the sides of the vehicles. For the MX-5 100th Anniversary model in particular, it sports a Dark Cherry fabric roof to further highlight its special status. Pricing for the UK-bound versions of the 100th Anniversary Special Editions will be confirmed at a later date but for now, Jeremy Thomson - Mazda UK's managing director - said: "Mazda Corporation has created these special models as a token of appreciation for the customers who have supported Mazda through the years. We'll be proud to have special versions of the MX-5 Convertible, CX-30 and Mazda3 in our UK showrooms later this year. UK buyers have always loved special edition MX-5s so I'm sure that with its distinctive Dark Cherry roof and Burgundy interior, the 100th Anniversary Special Edition Convertible will be very popular, while the first opportunity to have distinctive limited-edition versions of our latest cars, the Mazda3 and Mazda CX-30, is equally exciting."
Matt Robinson - 3 Apr 2020