CarBrandLogos archive · Mazda · 1960

MazdaMazda R360

Hiroshima's first passenger car: two seats, two cylinders, under 400 kilograms.

Photo: Alexander Migl · CC BY-SA 4.0

The story

A defining chapter in Mazda history.

Explore the ideas, engineering and context that shaped the Mazda R360, then continue into its specifications and place in the marque's lineage.

Origins

Toyo Kogyo had been building three-wheeled trucks since the 1930s and knew a great deal about making cheap vehicles for a poor market. Its first passenger car, launched in 1960, applied that knowledge to Japan's kei class: a two-door coupé with a 356 cc air-cooled V-twin mounted in the tail driving the rear wheels, a four-speed manual or an unusual two-speed automatic, and a kerb weight so low that the tiny engine could deliver genuine performance.

Mazda R360 Coupe V-twin engine 003 · Tennen-Gas · CC BY-SA 3.0

Design and engineering

The R360 undercut its rivals on price and beat them on weight, using aluminium and magnesium in the engine and plastic for the rear window. It was a hit almost immediately, taking the majority of kei car sales in its first year and giving Mazda the volume it needed to become a car manufacturer rather than a truck maker.

Mazda R360 · FotoSleuth · CC BY 2.0

In production

Its limitation was space — the rear seat was a formality. The four-door Carol that followed in 1962 addressed that and gradually took over, though the R360 stayed on sale until 1969.

Mazda R360 Coupé · Tokumeigakarinoaoshima · CC BY-SA 4.0

At a glance