As I zip around, up and down the I-5 corridor my heart skips a beat everytime I see RED. Mazda red to be exact. Swimming in a pool of monochrome and muted tones of blue, a sun beam spotlights this glowing red car radiating crimson root chakra energy down the freeway. You sexy thing you!
I’ve been noticing this red for a few years and this week I decided to find out what’s up with this color. Why does it attract my attention so? How was it created? It’s no surprise to me that Mazda calls their signature red “Soul Red Crystal”.
It seems Mazda is very proud of this color. They wanted to reinvent “red” and in doing so painted themselves into a corner (pun intended) because their “new red” could only be applied by hand. Not an efficient process for an international car company. So, Japan being Japan broke down their new process called, Takuminuri, which translates to English as “artisan coloring,” and taught their painting robots to duplicate the techniques of Mazda’s best craftsmen. Of course they did.
Creating Soul Red Crystal was a challenging process, and it required Mazda to reinvent the way cars are painted. Like any beautiful object, the way light dances across its surface is part of the beauty. The interplay of light and form inspired Mazda to create a paint with exceptional depth and reflective quality.
Mazda web site
Mazda goes on to say that they , “…view cars as art, and our desire is to have customers be emotionally moved by their car before even starting the engine.” Hmmmm…”emotionally moved?” I would argue that every manifestation of human emotional movements are activated just being near this color! It’s too sexy for it’s shirt to quote Right Said Fred.
Not only is this paint possibly the fanciest color out there right now, but it is also the most difficult to fix. But what did you expect from the Princess of Paint? “There’s no way to get around this…[Soul Red Crystal is] more complicated than what you’d find on any other car at their price points…” says Repairer Driven News. The paint chips more often than regular boring paint, and is more difficult to match. Well I think it’s still the hottest thing on the freeway. What do you think?
I hope you enjoyed learning more about this car color as I did. Here is my current mood expressed in a meme. I’m off to the races! Take care of yourself and those around you. -Shannon
shannon p. laws 