Facebook ‘Car Girl’ inspires 2018 Mazda3 design

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

At auto companies all over the Southland, the majority of employees are forbidden to walk through the doors of the studios where future car designs are drawn, sculpted and modeled. So it is a rare treat, indeed, for those of us who aren’t industry insiders to see the actual sculpting of a future Mazda3 model at Mazda’s exhibit on the L.A. Auto Show floor.

The design is the result of what you could call an ‘American Idol’ for young, undiscovered car designers held on Facebook.com. This search for the next generation of automotive design talent asked entrants to come up with their concepts for what a Mazda3 would look like for model year 2018. The winner, based on votes by Mazda designers and Facebook members, was Mallory McMorrow, a 21-year-old University of Notre Dame industrial design student.

McMorrow -- deemed ‘Car Girl’ by her fellow students -- and four other finalists were chosen after submitting 150-word descriptions of their future cars. Each had a Mazda designer’s help in bringing his or her concept to life in a final design sketch.

The clay-fashioning sculptors will be forming McMorrow’s design from noon to 8 p.m. daily for 10 days, with the finished full-scale model to be unveiled at the show at 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 24.

It was impressive simply watching the industrial calibrator mark each spot for the sculptors to pinpoint as the clay form took shape. An artfully worthy sight to see if you make it to the show this year.

-- Joni Gray