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Toyo Cork Kogyo Co. was formed on January 30, 1920, in Hiroshima, Japan. Initially, the Hiroshima-based firm produced artificial corks. 1)
Jujiro Matsuda, a renowned Japanese manager and entrepreneur, resurrected it in 1927. He abandoned the failed cork production business and concentrated on vehicle manufacture, and the firm began to recover. 2)
Initially, the plant manufactured tiny three-wheeled vehicles and motorbikes. 3)
After World War II, the Japanese company officially adopted the name Mazda and started to make products under its own logo. 4)
The Japanese carmaker carries an old and powerful name. The name Mazda is derived from Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian God of Life. Remember the Avestan name for the creator and solitary God of Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda or Ohrmazd, the next time you drive your Mazda. Interestingly, the name Mazda is also related to the name Matsuda, the company's founder. 5)
During the 1920s, the firm developed limited-edition bikes, but the market rejected them. At the time, the Japanese firm mostly manufactured machine tools. 6)
The situation improved in 1930, when a motorbike produced by Toyo Kogyo (the term “Cork” was dropped from the official name in 1927) won a speed race, enhancing the car manufacturer's reputation and notoriety. 7)
Mazda-Go, a three-wheeled vehicle, was developed by the Japanese manufacturer in 1931. It was so popular that the business built nothing but this type for the next fourteen years. 8)
Following WWII, the Japanese firm formally took the name Mazda and began producing goods under its own emblem. Mazda Romper, the company's first four-wheel vehicle, rolled out of the plant in 1958.