75 Years After the Hiroshima Bombing, Mazda Looks Back on the Long Road It Traveled

On Aug. 7, 1945, 50-year-old governor Genshin Takano sat down to write a letter to a superior. Takano was lucky to be alive, and the weight now on his shoulders was immense. On the morning of the previous day, an American B-29 plane dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Takano’s city: Hiroshima. The bombardier had aimed well. Little Boy, the 9,000-pound uranium bomb released from the plane’s belly, detonated 1,200 feet above the Shima Hospital just south of the Aioi Bridge—the very center of the city. In the ensuing fireball, everything within a mile of the hypocenter disappeared. Among the 80,000 who died instantly was Hiroshima’s mayor. This meant that Takano was now in charge of the world’s first nuclear wasteland. “All I can do,” he wrote, “is earnestly follow the orders of the emperor and be resolved to rebuild his country.” With the downtown district obliterated, officials relocated Takano to a makeshift office from which he would try to direct the massive efforts required to clear the streets, pipe fresh water and care for the sick and injured. Only one suitable building had been found. It stood in the Aki District, three miles southeast of the city center. The building was owned by a company called Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd., maker of the popular three-wheeled scooters that buzzed around the port city. But Toyo Kogyo is a brand name lost to history. Today, we know it as Mazda. An uncommon milestone Mazda’s management is thinking a great deal about Hiroshima this week—and today specifically—since Aug. 6 marks the 75th anniversary of the first wartime use of atomic weaponry. The occasion is still a fraught one, as the bombing remains a contentious subject and sober one, seeing that 140,000 people died in the blast. But for Mazda, it is also a reason for optimism. In the decades since the war ended, Mazda has prospered. With 50,000 employees and markets in more than 130 countries, the company now sells north of 1.5 million vehicles a year. In 2018, Consumer Reports ranked the nameplate among the top three quality builds, behind only Toyota and Lexus. And while Mazda is still regarded as something of an underdog among Japanese nameplates, nobody can deny the brand's fortitude and determination. After all, its trial by fire was a literal one. [kickout id="3"] “Mazda's story is unique, and as a company, we have worked hard to make the best of our circumstances,” Jeff Guyton, Mazda’s president of North American operations told Adweek. “Our home city, Hiroshima, was completely rebuilt in the years following the bomb in a process that some liken to a phoenix rising from ashes.” [article_summary section="1"]The literal obliteration of a company’s operations—especially one that was engaged in a wartime effort against the United States—isn’t necessarily the sort of subject a brand would be eager to bring up. But Mazda is talking openly about Hiroshima today. And not just because it survived the bomb, but because the bombing formed the core of a company ethos that is still critical to the brand’s identity. “Certain countries, certain cultures and societies, would look at [the atomic bombing] as an opportunity to create anger,” said interim North American CMO Brad Audet. “The people of Hiroshima looked at it as an opportunity for betterment. And they have a very optimistic view of taking care of each other. It’s very important to them. And I think you’re seeing that in the way that Mazda is behaving in this current environment.” The pandemic has broadsided Mazda just as it has every automotive manufacturer. Operating profits for the first three months of this year were down 55%, though the company rallied in Q2. But throughout the difficult period, Mazda has been a good corporate citizen, offering financial assistance for its owners, scrapping its usual advertising in order to transmit Covid prevention messages and instituting programs like the Essential Car Care Program, which keeps first responders’ vehicles on the road (even if they’re Fords or Subarus.) Mazda, in sum, has shown grace under pressure. The company knows its role in disaster response—after all, 75 years ago, it learned the hard way. A story on three wheels [kickout id="4"] The brand that became Mazda got its start in 1920 as a cork manufacturer in its Hiroshima headquarters. A year later, an executive named Jujiro Matsuda took over the struggling firm, diversifying operations to include tool manufacturing. The Mazda name itself did not appear until 1931 when the company debuted a motorized, three-wheeled delivery cart called the Mazda-Go. The name comes from Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian god of wisdom. Steered with handlebars and powered by a single-cylinder engine, the little green trucks could carry thousand-pound payloads and were soon puttering all over the country. But Mazda very nearly never made it past being a scooter brand. Some argue the only reason we have Mazda cars today is because—of all things—a haircut. About an hour before the B-29 Enola Gay dropped its bomb on the city, Matsuda was getting a birthday trim at his local barbershop. Because the hardworking executive didn’t want to cut into his workday, he grabbed the first appointment at 7:30 a.m. By the time the bomb detonated at 8:15 a.m., just 150 feet from the barbershop, Matsuda was safely away from the worst of the blast. Role in the rebuilding Matsuda's leadership of Toyo Kogyo (the company would not officially change its name to Mazda until 1984) was actually the reason why Governor Takano had a headquarters for his recovery efforts in the weeks after the bombing. In 1927, Matsuda erected a new building for his company and had the foresight to raise a concrete structure. Even in 1945, most of Hiroshima’s buildings were still made of wood, and 92% of them disappeared in the mushroom cloud. Though the atomic shockwave did blow out windows and roof of the Toyo Kogyo building, the thick walls stood firm enough to play a central role in the city’s rebuilding. The structure, Audet said, presented “an opportunity—a shelter, if you will—for the community.” [kickout id="1" label="Mazda video"] Because the recovery of postwar Japan was as much economic as it was infrastructural, Toyo Kogyo saw to its own survival, too. By the end of 1945, the scooter assembly lines were up and running again, and exports began as early as 1949. In Audet’s view, one of the many examples of the company’s resilience is the length to which employees went to procure tires. “Because of the devastation of Mazda’s suppliers, rubber was very scarce,” he said. “So Mazda employees were getting on trains going to northern Japan and bringing back tires that they reclaimed from landfills, bringing them back to Hiroshima and melting them down so they could make tires for the three-wheeled vehicles.” “The people of Hiroshima have always been resilient,” Guyton added, “but their perseverance through the devastating atomic bomb instilled a resolute challenger spirit.” In the postwar era, Mazda would demonstrate that resoluteness over and over. As Japan’s economy regained its footing, Mazda responded to consumers’ growing spending power by making four-wheeled sedans, beginning in 1960 with the R360 coupe. The little four-bangers were cheap, quick and fun to drive, a combination that eventually nudged open the door to the American market during the 1970s. And while Americans bought Mazdas for economic reasons, the brand achieved legendary status in 1989 when its sporty MX-5 Miata became the consummate midlife crisis car. Guinness World Records has since recognized the Miata as the bestselling two-seat convertible in history. “The driving experience is what [Mazda] is really known for,” said Paul Eisenstein, publisher of The Detroit Bureau. “They’re sort of the Japanese Volkswagen—not the most powerful car, but the most fun one to drive.” Legacy of the bomb [kickout id="2" label="Mazda after war"] Executives still talk about the “challenger spirit” forged in 1945 Hiroshima and the sense of community responsibility that accompanies it—“For humans, by humans” is the company parlance. In normal times, these concepts might come off as little more than corporate bromides. But the coming of the pandemic has furnished Mazda with the opportunity to show its culture in action. [article_summary section="3"]When Covid-19 first hit, Audet said the brand took "a very proactive stance on a couple of things." It canceled planned commercials and instead ran ads with the #SafeHands hashtag to share the World Health Organization's advice on hand-washing on March 13. Then on April 16 came Mazda's Central Car Care Program, which offered free oil changes and deep cleanings for healthcare workers. "It’s always been part of Mazda’s commitment to give back to those communities that we serve,” continued Audet. And since the 75th anniversary of the bomb also coincides with the centennial of the company, Mazda is planning some historically inspired marketing, too. Later this year, Mazda will roll out an anniversary edition of the Miata, featuring two-tone paint schemes and other design cues taken from the original R360 coupe. Thus far, Guyton said, “the reaction to our 100th anniversary Mazda MX-5 Miata has been overwhelmingly positive.” A continuously changing conversation As for the public’s reaction to Mazda’s atomic anniversary, that’s likely to be more nuanced. The Mazda factory was also producing material such as the Type 99 rifle for the war effort—but so was every industrial operation in Japan, just like Mercedes was building trucks for the Wehrmacht (the armed forces in Nazi Germany). [kickout id="5"] And while the U.S. was justified in fighting a country that had attacked it first, did any wartime foe deserve to be incinerated by a nuclear weapon? In 1945, a whopping 85% of Americans said yes. Today, however, that view has softened. According to a Pew poll conducted in 2015, only 56% of Americans now believe that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary. And while Mazda has never avoided talking about its roots in the atomic city, today might be the time when it makes the most sense. “Now is probably the best time for them to take the position to put the war element behind and play up the resiliency,” Eisenstein said. “This is the time when that approach could work. They have a more receptive audience than ever before.”