The Mazda3 won the 2020 World Car Design of the Year award, one of the most important awards of the World Car Awards (WCA). The Mazda3 is the second model of the brand to be named World Car Design of the Year, following the Mazda MX-5 winning the award in 2016.

The WCA was established in 2004 by an international group of automotive journalists, and the judging panel this year consisted of 86 journalists from over 25 different countries. The final result was announced by the WCA in Toronto on April 8.

Mazda uses Kodo design, which has received global recognition. Taking inspiration from Japanese aesthetics, Mazda adopted a “less is more” approach when designing the Mazda3, and stripped away superfluous elements from the car’s form. The result is a unique design that creates subtle undulations of light and shadows gliding over the car’s smooth body, giving birth to a natural and powerful expression of vitality. Furthermore, despite sharing the same model name, the hatchback and sedan models have distinct personalities—the design of the hatchback is emotive; the sedan elegant.

In 2020, Mazda celebrated its 100th anniversary. We have always built cars that provide driving pleasure, with the aim of brightening people’s lives in any era. Following that, for the next century, we will continue to take on challenges to create unique products, designs, technologies and customer experiences, hoping to offer something special that our car-loving customers will always want to treasure.