The coup\u00e9 has been the preferred format for attractive and visionary car design over the decades. The makers of such vehicles, which traditionally have two doors and are shorter and sportier than comparable sedans, tend to focus more on style as well as performance-enhancing structures like rigidity, aerodynamics and weight reduction \u2013 all central elements of Mazda\u2019s product philosophy.<\/p>\n
In fact, the Japanese carmaker has been setting coup\u00e9 benchmarks since the beginning. Its very first passenger car was a coup\u00e9. Practical and affordable, the two door, 2.96m-long Mazda R360 was also stylish and, as the lightest vehicle in its class, fun to drive. The winning combination made it an immediate bestseller, capturing 65% of Japan\u2019s burgeoning microcar (\u201ckei\u201d car) segment and 15% of the domestic market in 1960, the year of its launch. The Mazda Carol P360 coup\u00e9, which had a longer wheelbase and a four-cylinder engine, joined the line-up in 1962 with comparable success.<\/p>