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Mazda may well have brought along the best looking cars at the 2018 Tokyo motor show, with the Kai Concept hatchback and the Vision Coupe.
The Kai (arguably even prettier than the Vision Coupe) is very much the new Mazda3 hatch, with a liberal coating of motor show pixie dust. The Kai (the name translates from the Japanese as 'pioneer' is longer, lower and wider than the current Mazda3, and features a gorgeously minimalist retake on the current Mazda interior design language. A longer wheelbase than that of the current model will help interior space.
While the concept is very much about style (check out those Alfa Romeo-esque rear lights) it's also about engineering - the Kai uses Mazda's high-tech new SkyActiv-X compression ignition engine, which promises diesel-like economy from a low-emissions petrol engine. It will go on sale, along with the new Mazda3, next year.
The Vision Coupe is a bit more of a tantalising unknown. It clearly draws on the styling of last year's supposedly-rotary-engined Vision RX coupe, but it's longer, lower, has four doors, and a bonnet like an aircraft carrier. It is possible that Mazda is looking to use it to gauge reaction to a possible low-slung Audi A5 Sportback rival. Mind you, it's equally possible that this is the new Mazda6 in motor show makeup.
The engine, though? Ah, that's the interesting part. It could use a rotary engine. Not as its main powerplant, because it would be all but impossible to get a rotary car through current emissions regs, but as a range-extender engine to top up an electric car's batteries on the move. Mazda has admitted that it is working on such a concept, and is finding that while it's not as efficient as some other options, the silence and low vibration of a rotary perfectly fit the character of an electric car.