Straightline

The blond and photogenic Franz Von Holzhausen, Mazda's North American design chief, had the pleasure of "driving" the Mazda Furai concept onto the stage during the press conference today in Detroit. (For most of the show, the Furai sat uncovered, but the company whisked it out of sight just before its official debut.)



Von Holzhausen revved the mid-mounted, three-rotor 20B rotary engine before disembarking, commenting, "It sounds good, doesn't it?"

Indeed. As we reported in our full article on the Furai, this concept sports car is built on a racecar chassis from the American Le Mans Series. It's fully driveable, and the engine develops some 450 horsepower.

Unfortunately, we missed the chance to get a peek in the engine bay after the press conference.



The bodywork on the Mazda Furai draws your eyes to the car and holds them there. Furai is Japanese for "sound of wind," and says Von Holzhausen, "the surface impression is wind flowing through ribbons like a kite's tail." That sounds all poetic, but it's forgivable: This is a seriously beautiful car. -- Erin Riches, Senior Editor