Amati Cars
Amati was a proposed luxury brand announced by Mazda in August 1991 as part of Mazda's expansion plan with the launch of the Autozam, Eunos, and ɛ̃fini marques in hopes of becoming Japan's 3rd largest automaker. It was scheduled to launch in 1994 as a competitor to fellow Japanese luxury car marques Acura, Infiniti and Lexus as well as American and European luxury vehicles. However, when the Japanese economy collapsed in early 1992 Mazda faced a liquidity shortage and was unable to complete development of the brand. Mazda announced the cancellation of the Amati brand in October 1992 and the completed vehicles were sold under Mazda's existing brand names.
History
Background
Japanese automobiles began increasing in popularity in the United States during the 1970s as the market shifted towards small, economical cars following the 1973 oil crisis. Since the major American manufacturers General Motors, Ford Motor Company, Chrysler and American Motors were ill-prepared for the shift, they began losing market share to Japanese manufacturers for the first time. By the end of the decade, Ford, Chrysler and AMC were in dire financial straits and were downsizing to try to stay afloat. Chrysler sought a government bailout with CEO Lee Iacocca negotiating $2 billion worth loan guarantees from the United States Congress in highly publicized hearings that made him a recognized public figure. His efforts were successful and the Chrysler Loan Guarantee Act signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1979 saved the company from bankruptcy. French automaker Renault came to the rescue of AMC and purchased a majority share of the company in 1980. The American government subsequently began acting to protect the domestic automobile industry and in May 1981, President Ronald Reagan got the Japanese government to agree to a voluntary export restraint of 1.68 million vehicles a year to the United States.With the restriction in place, the major Japanese automakers adjusted their business strategies. Instead of exporting large volumes of low-priced economy cars, they instead sought to use their limited allotment to export higher-priced vehicles while producing their lower-priced models in newly built factories within the United States. Increasing demand for more luxurious cars in Japan aided this adjustment and competition between the major automakers was fierce. The excess liquidity within the economy as a result of the 1985 Plaza Accord currency equalization efforts, followed by the Louvre Accord in 1987 that contributed to the Japanese asset price bubble gave them nearly endless amounts of capital to use to develop these new vehicles, which were growing increasingly exotic as the decade waned. For example, Jalopnik noted how the 1980 Datsun lineup was largely made up of basic economy cars and a compact pickup truck while the 1989 Nissan lineup included vehicles such as the Nissan 300ZX sports car, Nissan Maxima performance sedan, Nissan Cedric luxury sedan, Nissan Leopard personal luxury coupe, and the Nissan Pathfinder sport utility vehicle. Honda, Toyota and Nissan began developing luxury vehicles specifically for sale in the United States, believing there would significant growth in the luxury car market there as the American economy recovered from the early 1980s recession and the baby boomer generation grew older and more affluent. Honda launched the Acura brand in 1986, Toyota and Nissan followed by launching their respective Lexus and Infiniti brands in 1989.
Development
Despite being of a much smaller size and having significantly less resources than Toyota and Nissan, Mazda embarked on an aggressive expansion and diversification plan in the late 1980s with the goal of eventually becoming Japan's third biggest automaker. Domestically, Mazda launched the Autozam, Eunos, and ɛ̃fini brands and created the M2 car customization division. Seeing their rivals entering the American luxury market, Mazda began "Project Pegasus" at Mazda North American Operations in Irvine, California headquarters during 1988 to study creating an American-tailored luxury car of their own. While Mazda was largely undistinguished in the American market at the time, the surprise success of the Mazda Miata roadster in America upon its spring 1989 launch emboldened the company, which planned to leverage it to build brand equity and attract new customers. Project Pegasus became the Amati division in 1989, with executive Dick Colliver put in charge. Shortly thereafter, Mazda acknowledged that it was studying building a luxury car to the Japanese press. Another clue that Mazda was eyeing the luxury market came when they showcased a 4.0 litre, 3-bank, naturally aspirated W12 DOHC gasoline-powered engine that was limited to per the Japan auto industry's gentlemen's agreement at the 1989 Tokyo Motor Show. The W12 engine featured an aluminum engine block, Magnesium cylinder heads and oil pan, and fitted with ceramic valves and pistons. Each cylinder bank had a displacement of 1327 cc, or three proposed Mazda series B3 engines mated together at the crankshaft. Though it is widely believed that this was the engine that was going to power the Amati 1000, former Mazda executive Bob Hall told Jalopnik in 2018 that the engine was just a mock up put out to misdirect the competition and was never a serious engineering study. Rumors that Mazda was planning a luxury division persisted throughout 1990, which the company vehemently denied. There was a significant gulf between how Mazda's Japanese and American operations handled the project; while the Japanese were pushing hard for it, completing development of the vehicles and tooling up a factory for production, the Americans were left to figure out how to make it work as a business. Many among Mazda's American staff did not take the project seriously, believing it was just busywork the Japanese created to put Colliver "out to pasture."Mazda officially announced Amati at an August 1991 press conference to launch in spring 1994. The division was going to be headquartered at Mazda North American Operations in Irvine and unlike its rivals, Mazda planned to sell the vehicles within its existing dealerships. Mazda did not reveal any details about the cars themselves at the conference, opting to emulate Infiniti's early marketing strategies of keeping the cars under wraps to build anticipation among the public. Mazda claimed the name Amati came from the Latin expression "to love" and said it would invoke the thought of "the multicolored tapestry of a sunset...the delicate feel of fingertips on cashmere...the tartness of a ripe apple...the loving aroma of Thanksgiving turkey roasting in Grandma’s oven.” Analysts at the time noted that "Amati" was an anagram of "Miata" and wondered if the new vehicles would be inspired by the roadster. Reception to the announcement was mixed, with some industry analysts expressing skepticism that Mazda had the resources to support a separate luxury division and fears that the American luxury car market was becoming over saturated. Mazda's announcement of the Amati division came two weeks after two would-be competitors, Peugeot and Sterling, announced they were leaving the American market.
Contemporary media reports only spoke of two sedans being sold under the nameplate but retrospective reports speak of three or possibly four vehicles being launched under the Amati brand. The compact Amati 300 was going to be an American adaptation of the Eunos 500 sedan which began production at the Hofu plant in early 1992 and was released later that year for the Japanese and international markets. The mid-size Amati 500 was more ambitious, containing a supercharged miller cycle engine and Yaw controlled four-wheel steering. It went into production as the Eunos 800 at the Hofu plant later in 1992 and was released for sale in the Japanese and international markets in 1993. The brand's flagship was the enigmatic Amati 1000, which was never unveiled to the public nor were any specifications published, though the Australian car magazine Wheels published exterior and interior renderings of it in December 1992, two months after Amati was cancelled. Bob Hall described it as strongly resembling a 1991 Mazda 929, but with fatter pillars and a long, horizontal hood. It was slightly longer than the 929 and had more room in the back seat. According to Hall, the 1000 was going to be powered by a V12 created by combining two K V6 engines into a new 12 cylinder block while sharing the K engine's valvetrain. Hall told Jalopnik in 2018, "They had done a 3.6 of the two 1.8s. The block was designed up to a 5.0-liter. North America would be a 4.6 from two 2.3s.” According to Hall, running prototypes of the 1000 were made, which had and an exhaust note reminiscent of a Ferrari. Regarding its performance, Hall said that compared to the Lexus LS400, the Amati 1000 was slower going from 0- but was faster accelerating in passing maneuvers from. Early reports speculated that Mazda was developing a luxury coupe based on the Mazda Cosmo that would have competed against the Lexus SC400, but these were not substantiated and its possible those reporters were simply describing the significantly more luxurious Eunos Cosmo that launched for the Japanese market in 1990.