Mazda
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 Mazda began as the Toyo Cork Kogyo
Co., Ltd, founded in Japan in 1920. Toyo Cork Kogyo renamed itself
to Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd. in 1927. Toyo Kogyo moved from manufacturing
machine tools to vehicles, with the introduction of the Mazda-Go in
1931. Toyo Kogyo produced weapons for the Japanese military
throughout the Second World War, most notably the series 30 through
35 Type 99 rifle. The company formally adopted the Mazda name in
1984, though every automobile sold from the beginning bore that
name. The Mazda R360 was introduced in 1960, followed by the Mazda
Carol in 1962.
Mazda Cosmo SportBeginning in the 1960s, Mazda put a major
engineering effort into development of the Wankel rotary engine as a
way of differentiating themselves from other Japanese auto
companies. Beginning with the limited-production Cosmo Sport of 1967
and continuing to the present day with the RX-8, Mazda has become
the sole manufacturer of Wankel-type engines mainly by way of
attrition (NSU and Citroën both gave up on the design during the
1970s, and prototype efforts by General Motors never made it to
production).
This effort to bring attention to themselves apparently helped, as
Mazda rapidly began to export its vehicles. Both piston-powered and
rotary-powered models made their way around the world, but the
rotary models quickly became popular for their combination of good
power and light weight (when compared to piston-engined competitors
with similar power, usually carrying a heavy V6 or V8 engine). The
R100 and the famed RX series (RX-2, RX-3, and RX-4) led the
company's export efforts.
During 1970, Mazda formally entered the North American market (under
the guise of Mazda North American Operations) and was very
successful there, going so far as to create the Mazda Rotary Pickup
(based on the conventional piston-powered B-Series model) solely for
North American buyers. To this day, Mazda remains the only automaker
to have produced a Wankel-powered pickup truck. Additionally, they
are also the only marque to have ever offered a rotary-powered bus
(the Mazda Parkway, offered only in Japan) or station wagon (within
the RX-3 line).
Mazda's rotary success continued until the onset of the 1973 oil
crisis. As American buyers (as well as those in other nations)
quickly turned to vehicles with better fuel efficiency, the
relatively thirsty rotary-powered models began to fall out of favor.
Wisely, the company had not totally turned its back on piston
engines, as they continued to produce a variety of four-cylinder
models throughout the 1970s. The smaller Familia line in particular
became very important to Mazda's worldwide sales after 1973, as did
the somewhat larger Capella series.
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