The Mazda MX-81 Aria was a concept car built by the Turin design studio Bertone for the Japanese manufacturer Mazda, then trading as Toyo Kogyo. It was unveiled at the Tokyo motor show toward the end of 1981, coming as a surprise despite the long-standing working relationship between Bertone and Mazda. Bertone described it as a successful blend of a classic show prototype and a concrete production proposal. The car was built on the underpinnings of the compact-class Mazda 323, resulting in a four-seat, three-door saloon body with numerous unconventional features.
The MX-81 body was even more compact than the 396-cm-long hatchback 323 on which it was based, and achieved a drag coefficient of 0.29, helped by flush-fitted glazing. Its side windows extended well below the usual beltline but were fixed to the doors and rear side structure, with only a small flap window in each door serving for ventilation. The entire lower body, including the wheel arches, was designed as a continuous impact-protection surface. The simple front end featured air intakes below the bumper and pop-up headlights, a headlight treatment later echoed by the wedge-shaped nose of the 1989 Mazda 323 F. Tail lights were integrated into the sloped, kinked rear roof pillars, and the rear window opened to give access to the luggage compartment.
Bertone devoted particular attention to the interior, finished with a brown, red and beige check pattern on leather-trimmed seats. The front seats had stub backrests and could rotate on their vertical axis, easing entry and exit and allowing access to the rear seats without the front occupants leaving the car. A suitcase-sized glovebox with a lid fitted with a make-up mirror could be pulled out and doubled as a typewriter holder.
In place of a conventional steering wheel, the MX-81 used a rounded, rectangular link-chain arrangement around the central instrument binnacle, requiring only one and a half turns lock to lock and tested even at motorway speeds. At its center sat a CRT monitor, unobstructed by steering wheel spokes, displaying speed, engine speed and fuel consumption continuously, with further data available at the touch of controls arranged around the screen. The center console carried computer elements, and a microwave sensor in the tail could detect obstacles while reversing.
Technically, the MX-81 used a turbocharged 1490 cc four-cylinder Mazda 323 engine producing 130 hp at 6000 rpm. It measured 394 cm long, 169 cm wide and 128 cm high, on a 236.5 cm wheelbase. Mazda drew on ideas from the MX-81 in later production models developed with Bertone.
