CONVENTION and predictable computer-generated designs have been ditched by a new wave of Mazda designers who have drawn on wind, wave and sand as inspirations for new car forms.

The prototype Hakaze has a striking futuristic design that has inspired many of the curves and sweeping lines in the Mazda 2, which will arrive here in October.

The prototype will be one of the star attractions at the Geneva motor show in March and alongside it will be the Mazda 2, which has clearly been influenced by the "flowing through air" concept (the same concept will also have a big influence on the Mazda 3 in a few years' time).

Mazda designers have shown flair in the past but rarely have such nature-inspired ideas been assembled in a working prototype built with carbon fibre and fibreglass on the Mazda CX-7 chassis.

Designed in Europe, special research units found that the future trend will be towards compact SUV-like crossover vehicles in the future.

The Hakaze follows along the lines of the trilogy of Mazda concept cars last year which won prizes at the Paris and Detroit motor shows. This season we get the Nagare concept, which means "flow" in Japanese, and already two similar prototypes have been shown at the LA and Detroit motor shows. The latest, the Hakaze, shown here for the first time, has come from the Mazda European design centre in Frankfurt and shows what Europeans desire in the car of the future.

It was developed after surveys in Germany and the UK by Mazda's Advanced Product Planning team into consumer needs to make sure that the designers' ideas were usable and not just flights of fancy.

The APP found that compact SUVs were needed to meet the growing trend towards "active lifestyles." Over the next 10 years traditional segments will decline and coupAcopyright/convertible/crossover vehicles with good interior space will be in demand.

To get the mix right, engineers, planners and designers were told to work together as one group, each responding to fresh ideas as they occur. This process was very effective, according to APP director Jose Santamaria.

So the Hakaze gets body lines that look expensive with high wheel arches, rippled bodywork to give a windswept look and a trademark ascending line to the rear glasscovered boot. The windscreen flows over the front occupants and the remaining twothirds of the glass roof can be removed and stowed in a tray in the rear bumper.

Frameless windows give a coupAcopyright design when the roof is removed. The doors hinge up when opened to look like sails but make for easy entry.

Other features include a wrap-around rear screen, cameras on the A pillars instead of mirrors , a flowing centre console from the dash to the floor that houses a line of control buttons (and also accommodates surf boards).

The four sporty seats swivel up and down on electric motors and the rectangular steering wheel comes with centre-mounted driving aids. The list of novel ideas goes on and on with this bright airy car. It is full of character.

Yes the goal has been achieved - a compact crossover coupAcopyright with a roadster feel. Young designers Luca Zollina and Mike Loyer, who worked on the project, say the car is agile but tough, while the chief designer at Mazda Motor Europe, Peter Birtwhistle, says the windswept look continues in the interior where the basic form is like looking at sand dunes. "Mazda is all about emotion, and this is emotion, " he says.

Mazda say that the concept prototype is for real as it meets the needs of the carbuying public so the demise of the saloon three-box design could be just around the corner.

Indeed, the proof of that may be the fact that Toyota is not offering the new Corolla saloon in Europe - the new hatchback Auris is taking over. However, the Corolla will continue to sell on the Irish market.