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| Mazda
Sassou concept car |
Broadcast
date : 9th April 2006 |
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Motor manufacturer Mazda has
come up with a very innovative concept hatchback, for young
people. It’s name, despite being spelled somewhat
differently, rhymes with aah so.
The name means having a positive state of mind, looking ahead
to the future with optimism, the kind of feeling you get after
an ahh-hah experience.
Aah so. Sassou.
The Mazda Sassou is a fun city car, or it will be if the
Japanese company ever produces it.
This concept version is powered by a 1 litre 3 cylinder,
turbocharged engine.
Shades of Smart car, and from an earlier era, Daihatsu’s
Charade.
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Like the Smart, the Sassou has a happy face. But unlike the
Smart, it has a sporty profile.
Its wheels are big in proportion to its body, and its
headlight and taillight technology is concealed LED, or
light-emitting diodes.
The big talking point about the Sassou is that it uses a USB
memory stick instead of a key to get things booted up inside
the cabin.
There’s an interface port to activate the hard drive, which
controls all sorts of interior and mechanical functions.
A mouse-like control helps you select functions like
air-conditioning, navigation, and audio.
And yes, the transmission uses paddle shifting sequential
controls, so there’s no clutch pedal.
The seats are almost paper-thin, giving the interior a feeling
of space and freedom, despite the fact that the Sassou is an
itzy bitzy car.
And to fold the rear seats flat, a compressed air system is
used, so you don’t have to strain all those muscles you’ve
been honing to perfection in the gym.
The Sassou has a glass roof to let in plenty of light.
The exterior employs something called the Shoji
principle.
Shoji screens are thin Japanese doors made of rice paper, to
almost conceal what’s within.
In this case, the LED headlights and tail lamps are
semi-concealed by a thin plastic shield, only coming to life
and light when needed.
The big wheels makes the Sassou look well planted on the road.
And the twin exhausts hint at power, even though a one-litre
turbo is not calculated to give you whiplash.
It’s all about Mazda’s Zoom Zoom philosophy, with cars
like the RX8 and MX5 carrying this slogan into reality.
Hopefully, cars like the Sassou will zoom Mazda into small car
excitement in the not too distant future.
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