Would you buy a Kodo-inspired chair like you would a Kodo-inspired Mazda 3? Mazda sure hopes so, and that it will make you think you’re buying something exotic. Probably.
In an interview with Automotive News, Mazda’s design lead Ikuo Maeda believes the key to elevating resale values and transaction prices, as well as overall brand perception, is to start pushing premium goods unrelated to cars on the public. The first in that step is the Kodo Chair.
It’s supposed to be inspired by the similar design principles on Mazda’s current cars. You can kind of picture this seat in the 2016 Miata, right? If successful, the chair could be the first in a Mazda Design line of goods.
Mazda thinks it can get away with this because it’s what many premium automakers do already. Most notably, Porsche has its Porsche Design Group which makes everything from very expensive pens to very expensive sunglasses to very expensive smoking devices.
Somehow, a Mazda chair doesn’t have quite the same “wow” factor as a Porsche chair, even though it’s not a bad looking chair. One must think these design resources could be spent building a more prestigious image on, you know, the cars.
By Zac Estrada
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