Gizmodo: mazda

Mazda Kiyora Recycles Rain Water for Drinking

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:00:00 EDT

This is the new Mazda Kiyora, a concept car that is not only designed to consume less gas and produce less emissions, but to collect and purify the most important liquid on Earth: Water. You know, for drinking. If you are into that kind of liquid, anyway. When you drive the Mazda Kiyora through rain, its roof channels the falling water into a specially-designed Lifesaver purification bottle. The bottle, called Lifesaver Bottle Citi, is placed in the middle of the car's interior, between the front seats, for easy access by all passengers.

Designed for Mazda by LIFESAVER® systems, the LIFESAVER® bottle citi™ is the world’s first ultra filtration water bottle to be installed in a car. It removes all waterborne pathogens and other pollutants creating safe sterile drinking water for the driver and passengers.

Taking advantage of rain as a natural resource, the roof of the Mazda Kiyora channels rainwater firstly through an activated carbon filter and then into a specially commissioned drinks bottle designed for Mazda by LIFESAVER® systems.

The LIFESAVER® bottle citi™ is located between the front seats for easy access, and uses state of the art ultra filtration hollow fibre membranes. With a pore size of 15 nano-meters these membranes remove all microbiological contamination including bacteria and viruses without using chemicals, delivering safe fresh drinking water to the driver and passengers any time. The bottle is removable so can be taken out of the car and used to gather water from other natural sources such as rivers, lakes and streams.

I wonder if car manufacturers couldn't do the same with hydrogen cars, minus the special purification system, condensing the vapor coming out of the car exhaust into a bottle. Or if they want to really make it fancy, include a espresso machine.

For a more detailed look at the Mazda Kiyora, check Jalopnik's coverage from the Paris Motor Show. [Lifesaver via Inhabitat]

Mazda Furai Concept Puts Us into Batman Euphoric Mode

Haroon Malik — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:30:00 EST

Our motor head siblings over at Jalopnik are going to be covering the crap out of the Detroit Auto Show, but in the pre show warm-up they have come across a little gem; the Mazda Furai concept on video. The clip shows the vehicle screaming around the track at Leguna Seca, which made us excited enough, but the super futuristic styling made us think the Batmobile just got replaced with this American Le Mans Series inspired race car, which has a Cougar C65 chassis and a three-rotor rotary engine capable of 450 hp.

If there is anything that makes us weak at the knees, it's Batman, his arsenal of gadgets, his souped up vehicles and anything that resembles them. So, excuse us while we watch the video one more time, allowing its content to turn us to jelly. Ooh, Furai, unleash your Furai on us. Hit Jalopnik for the video. [Jalopnik]

Ford, GM, Mazda to see more iPod Integration

Travis Hudson — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 10:59:59 EDT

Apple has inked a deal with three major car manufacturers today to make it a bit easier to connect the iPod into car stereos. Apple has come to agreement with Ford, GM and Mazda to see that 70-percent of their 2007 model vehicles will offer some way of connecting iPods directly. The iPod integration seems to be as simple as a dock connection in the glove compartment. iPod control and navigation will be done through the already existing stereo controls. GM has already announced pricing regarding this issue. As early as October they will offer the iPod audio connection for $160 plus labor. I'll stick with my cheapy FM transmitter and 12V DC charger thank you very much. – Travis Hudson

Apple in deals to connect iPod in new car models [Yahoo]

Mazda Kabura Concept Cooler Than Miata

tgrumet — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 17:15:31 EST

Now that CES is over, we know some of you are feeling forlorn. So we figured we'd bring you some news from the Detroit Auto Show, which is taking place this week. Here's the Mazda Kabura, which seems to be a mutt, mixed with MX-5 Miata and RX-8. Basically a sports coupe mixed with a nice functional auto, it has a rear-drive powertrain, dynamic styling and a wide range of utilities on board. And most importantly, it looks very, very cool.

Mazda KABURA And CX-7 Unveiled At The North American International Auto Show - Part One [Carpages]

Mazda's USB Starter Key

Noah R — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 13:10:03 EDT

Mazda is trying to bond with its future drivers by installing a "USB stick key"—or flash drive—instead of the traditional cylinder lock key system. Yes, this means you'll be able to start your car with a USB dongle as well as transfer driving directions and music to the internal hard drive of this concept car, dubbed the Sassou. Being shown at the Frankfurt Motor Show, this 3-door hatchback design concept is, if you don't mind the reference, somewhat pod-like (REALLY pod-like, unlike the iPod, which is not technically pod-like at all).

Mazda Ditches Cylinder Locks in Favor of USB Key [EverythingUSB]