We tend to think of four-door hardtops as a mostly American phenomena, but this body style was also popular in Japan for many years. From 1988 to 1992, Mazda even offered a pillarless hardtop version of the Mazda 626 sedan — the Mazda Persona and its short-lived twin, the Eunos 300.
The Japanese domestic market went mad for hardtops in the 1970s, just as they were fading out in the U.S. market. Many were never officially sold on this side of the Pacific (although a few have trickled into the U.S. and Canada in more recent years), but both two- and four-door hardtops were very popular in Japan. Buyers of more expensive models like the Toyota Crown lost interest in two-door hardtops by the early ’80s, turning their attention instead to personal luxury models like the Toyota Soarer and Nissan Leopard, but most bigger cars continued to offer four-door hardtops — some actually pillarless, some “pillared hardtops” with concealed B-pillars and frameless door glass.
1982 Nissan Cedric Turbo Brougham four-door hardtop / Nissan Motor Corporation
By the mid-1980s, this style had become popular enough to spread into the cheaper price classes. In 1985, Toyota created a four-door hardtop version of the T160 Carina sedan, the Carina ED, which was essentially a four-door hardtop version of the FWD Celica coupe. This was a big domestic hit, selling 264,566 cars in four years.
1985 Toyota Carina ED 2000G-Limited / Toyota Motor Corporation
It was clear that Toyota had struck a rich vein, so its rivals moved to follow suit. Mazda, perhaps caught off-guard, wasn’t able to field its own entry, known internally as Project 228, until October 1988, a year after the latest GD Capella (Mazda 626) on which it was based. It was eventually named Mazda Persona.
Clay models of Project 228, which became the 1988 Mazda Persona / Mazda Motor Corporation
1988 Mazda Capella with 4WS / Mazda Motor Corporation
1989 Mazda Persona 2000DOHC Type B / Mazda Motor Corporation
With its shortened roof and squared-off rear wheel arches, the Persona ended up bearing some resemblance (presumably coincidental) to the Oldsmobile Achieva sedan, which was developed at approximately the same time.
1992 Oldsmobile Achieva sedan / General Motors LLC
As I’m sure Mazda was aware, Persona is the title of a 1966 psychological drama by Swedish director Ingmar Bergman, arguably Bergman’s most famous film, but Mazda’s amusingly pretentious brochure instead featured a different Bergman: actress Ingrid Bergman (1915–1982) — who so far as I know was not related to Ingmar in any way — along with a heavier-than-usual dose of lysergic marketing blather:
Like Bergman …
All technology and performance is for sensual expression.
If the progress of cars could only be described in numerical specifications, then I would have to say that it would be unfortunate for the cars themselves, and for us who love cars. Numbers should be something to back up progress, but they should never be the goal. Surprise, joy and sorrow that can be felt with the skin, measured with the eyes and the heart. Progress is made possible by these things. We don’t build cars that treat numbers as absolutes and worship them, but cars that can be embraced in the heart. In other words, we wanted to build a car that is meaningful to our emotions and physiology. This aspiration was at the root of the development of this Persona …
(Before you ask, no, I don’t know what to make of any of that either.)
Like the Capella/626 and the 626-based MX-6 coupe, the Persona had fuel-injected 16-valve four-cylinder engines and fully independent suspension with struts all around. However, it was less technologically ambitious, with no turbo engines and no four-wheel steering; the 626’s antilock brakes weren’t available on the Persona until 1990. Since the Persona was a JDM car, it also didn’t use the bigger 2,184 cc F2 engine found in the U.S. 626, which would have pushed it into a much more expensive road tax class. The choice was between the 1,789 cc SOHC F8 engine, with 97 PS, or the 1,998 cc DOHC FE, with 140 PS. Either could be mated to a five-speed manual or four-speed automatic, although the latter was much more common. Twin-cam cars got four-wheel disc brakes, ventilated in front.
1988 Mazda Persona 2000DOHC Type B / Yoshitaka Takahara – Nostalgic Hero
I don’t have any performance figures for these cars, but my guess is that a five-speed twin-cam car could probably do 0 to 60 mph in around 10 seconds, with the usual legally mandated 112 mph (180 km/h) top speed; 1.8-liter cars and automatics were undoubtedly slower. Road manners were otherwise probably much like the contemporary 626, which had a pretty good ride/handling balance, although I assume torsional rigidity suffered somewhat.
1,998 cc DOHC FE engine with 140 PS / Yoshitaka Takahara – Nostalgic Hero
The Persona’s real focus was on the interior treatment, which had a lounge seating theme with a curved rear backrest like a 1960s Ford Thunderbird. This was offered in two trim levels: Type A, with cloth upholstery, or Type B, with leather.
1988 Mazda Persona Type B with leather upholstery — the rear armrest doesn’t fold or retract / Mazda Motor Corporation
With no B-pillar, one of the challenges with modern hardtops has been attaching the front shoulder harnesses. A frequent solution for four-door hardtops was to hang the front shoulder belt from the roof, but Mazda didn’t want that because it would tend to clutter the side profile. Instead, they installed the inertia reels for the front seat belts in the rear doors, with a guide clip on the “shoulder” of each front seat. This was clever, but it required some negotiation with back seat passengers, lest they decapitate the driver or front passenger by suddenly opening their door while the front belts were still fastened.
Front seat belts extend from the rear doors / Yoshitaka Takahara – Nostalgic Hero
Where the Capella/626 had a pretty orthodox dash layout with the usual stalk-mounted controls found on most contemporary Japanese sedans, the Persona got a new dashboard with an overhanging pod shaped like an inverted “U,” containing the HVAC controls on the left and the lights and power mirror controls on the right. Taking another cue from the ’60s Thunderbird, there was no glove box on the passenger side, but there were small storage bins under the center stack and in the console ahead of the shifter. The climate control system could also have the motorized vents found on some other Mazda cars of this time, which would swing back and forth in the manner of an oscillating fan.
1988 Mazda Persona 2000DOHC Type B / Yoshitaka Takahara – Nostalgic Hero
Around this time, a lot of Japan’s smaller automakers were also making a big push to emulate Toyota’s JDM strategy of multiple dealer networks offering lightly made-over versions of existing products. In late 1989, Mazda launched its Autozam and Eunos brands, followed in 1991 by ɛ̃fini. Eunos offered a version of the new MX-5 Miata, the Eunos Roadster, along with a made-over Familia/323 badged as Eunos 100 and a lightly restyled Persona called Eunos 300.
1990 Eunos 300 1800DOHC Type A (left) with 1989 Mazda Persona 2000DOHC Type B / Yoshitaka Takahara – Nostalgic Hero
The Eunos 300 had different taillights, a different grille with amber fog lamps, and body-side cladding giving a subtle two-tone effect. It also got new 15-inch alloy wheels and standard four-wheel discs with optional ABS. Like the Persona, it offered 1.8- and 2.0-liter engines, but the 1.8-liter was the latest DOHC F8-DE engine, with 115 PS, similar to the engine in the U.S. Mazda Protege LX, while the 2.0-liter was the updated FE-ZE, making 150 PS with manual transmission or 145 PS with automatic.
1990 Eunos 300 / Mazda Motor Corporation
In early 1990, the Persona got a very mild mid-cycle update, giving the 1.8-liter cars the twin-cam F8-DE engine and adding ABS to the options list. (For whatever reason, the Persona never got the more powerful 2-liter engine, retaining the earlier 140 PS FE version.) There was also a new top-of-the-line 2-liter model called Persona Couture, with standard automatic transmission and air conditioning with automatic climate control.
1990 Mazda Persona Couture / Mazda Motor Corporation
Neither the Mazda Persona nor its Eunos twin was officially exported, and they sold poorly in Japan — the 300 was a complete disaster, selling fewer than 5,000 units in two years. They remained on sale through the spring of 1992, but Mazda had already given up. The last gasp was a Eunos 300 Type X limited edition, released that February.
1989 Toyota Corona EXiV 2.0 FE 4WS / schaefft
I think the main problem with the Persona and Eunos 300 was that they just didn’t look quite right. Toyota’s second-generation Carina ED and its new Corona EXiV twin (pictured above) were similar in size and had many of the same styling themes, but they were better-proportioned and much less awkward-looking, so they ate the Persona’s lunch. In the main, the Persona and 300 were less attractive than the Capella/626 sedan and hatchback, which was a big problem for cars that asked buyers to pay more and sacrifice practicality for style.
1990 Mazda 626 Touring five-door / Bring a Trailer
Before long, it wouldn’t matter anyway: JDM pillarless four-door hardtops had been relying heavily on Japan’s fairly lax side impact and rollover crash standards, which got tougher in the early ’90s. After about 1993, the pillarless models were all gone, and while the pillared variety stuck around for longer, they were getting to be old hat by the mid-’90s.
1990 Mazda Persona / Mazda Motor Corporation
I fear many CC readers will barely remember the 1987–1992 Mazda 626/MX-6, much less their little-seen and rather eccentric cousin back in Japan. However, JDM cars like the Persona and Carina ED are eye-openers for anyone who thinks that four-door hardtops became extinct in the late 1970s.
Related Reading
Pillarless Under the Rising Sun: Japan’s Four-Door Hardtops (at Ate Up With Motor)
COAL: 1986 and 1991 Mazda 626 – Ongoing Love Affair (by TBM3fan)
CC Capsule: 1983-87 Mazda 626 Coupe – The Mystery Of The Innocuous Coupe (by William Stopford)
Curbside Classic: 1982-86 Mazda 626 – Deserving Of Success (by William Stopford)
CC Capsule: Monday Morning Rarities – 1988 Mazda 626 Turbo, Sleeper Personified (by JohnH875)
Curbside Classic: 1988 Toyota Celica GT – Oh What A Feeling! (by Brendan Saur)
Curbside Classic: 1994 Toyota Corona Exiv (ST200) TR-R – The Four-Door Celica (by Tatr87)
Automotive History: 1992-1998 Toyota Corolla Ceres/Sprinter Marino – The Sexiest And Most Limited-Availability Corolla
It is the technical aspects of this body that fascinate me. First, it fails in the main reason for its existence – with all windows down, the glass still sticks up a bit from the tops of the rear doors, as shown in the top photo. I don’t know if other JDM 4 door hardtops did this, but I can’t imagine it would have made these popular.
Second is the seat belt mounting system. It is interesting that they couldn’t figure out a way to make a stub pillar that could anchor the belt. Anchoring the belt to the rear door (held on only by two hinges and a latch) would seem to introduce a lot of movement in a crash, that could do unpredictable things with the front occupants’ belts.
The Carina ED and Corona EXiV also left part of the rear glass sticking up:
https://web.motormagazine.co.jp/_ct/17336457/album/16789143/image/16870475
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23259101@N08/51338672132/in/album-72157713386798403
It didn’t affect their popularity any — I guess owners were more likely to leave the windows up and the air on. I agree that the Mazda’s belt-mounting system feels very kludged.
I guess anything still sticking up on a car named ED must be considered an achievement.
Nice looking car. Taurus with a ’57 Chrysler roof.
Aside from the door-belt, the rear seat looks uncomfortable. Seems like the back would be pushing your shoulders inward, while the seat would be pushing your knees outward.
Aaron, I don’t know if this is the manner to contact you but years ago my user name here was Codylikesit and we discussed mold issues with your research and I’d like to see how you made out.
Hey Bill, thanks for checking in. The simple answer is “Not well!”: an endless array of self-destructing dehumidifiers, Damp-Rid spilled on things, and a growing dread of print books and magazines if I can avoid them.
Aaron, I am sorry to hear that. Since that time ( I work in the mold remediation industry) I’ve discovered a document freezing process that works well. Naturally, it’s pretty expensive. I’d be happy to share information about it if I had the ability to email you. I could post me email here, but I’m not sure of the rules.
I’ve been a big fan of yours for years !
An interesting look. It almost doesn’t appear factory. As hardtops are often associated with cars from the ’50’s and ’60’s, it dates the greenhouse in some ways.
The look generally does, have a bit of a gimmicky owner-applied quality. Something you’d perhaps see, in Florida. lol
That Persona dash design is not unlike what they used on the subsequent Eunos 500/Xedos 6, which looked a bit odd but worked very well in practice. The Xedos had better ergonomics than any car I’ve driven since.
It was often the case that the dash would differ between saloon and hatch versions of the 626/Capella sold in Europe. I remember studying the catalogues for the GE and GD series 626, and eventually had a GD hatch for about 6 years.
If the progress of cars could only be described in numerical specifications, then I would have to say that it would be unfortunate for the cars themselves, and for us who love cars. Numbers should be something to back up progress, but they should never be the goal…
Either Japanese poorly translated over to english or American marketing guy who had one too many joints. Like the white touring 5 door but then I am biased.
The front belt does seem strange and an accident waiting to happen. The belt in my 2004 LeSabre comes through an anchor on the back outside corner of the front seat. Some have complained but I find no issues with it myself. My other hardtops naturally do it from the roof so if all windows open you do see it hanging for what it is worth.
I like this design a lot – maybe that’s partly because I quietly harbor appreciation for Olds Achievas. But beyond that, I feel the design blends together well.
The seat belt anchor is really weird, though. It’s hard to see how that snuck through both Mazda’s design review and also any regulatory issues.
And thanks for including that brochure excerpt. That ought to win a prize of some sort.
I don’t know that it’s any more dangerous than the awful door-mounted passive belts found on a lot of U.S.-market cars of that era, but it is sort of philosophically opposite: Instead of remaining fastened without requiring the occupants to take any action, it requires coordination between front and rear passengers, like arming a nuclear warhead.
The wraparound rear lounge seat thing was a common motif in ’80s and early-’90s Mazdas. I think the ’81 GLC Sport (aka 323/Familia) 2-door hatchback had it first, but a similar treatment was in the next two 323 generations as long as you got the 2-door in top trim. The ’83 626 coupe had it, as well as the ’88 MX-6. My ’89 Mercury Tracer two-door had it. But all of those (and the referenced T-Bird) were coupes. This car has it in a sedan which looks really cool. But the outside of the car does nothing for me, and I might not have even noticed it was a real hardtop if not pointed out to me (and the windows were closed).
The front shoulder belt setup in some Buicks from 25 years ago (LeSabre, Park Avenue, Riviera) would have worked well in this car; the whole mechanism was built into the seat, nothing in the door or B pillar.
I recall the ’88-92 generation of 626 having a 12-valve engine rather than 16, or was that another car from around this time?
The North American 626 and MX-6 had a 12-valve 2.2-liter engine, the F2. It wasn’t part of the JDM Capella/Persona lineup because it was over the 2,000 cc tax class limit, so they had the 2-liter 16-valve engines instead, which had more power but less torque.
I had a friend with an ’89 MX-6, a really nice beautiful reliable car, champagne color with dark red coarse cloth interior. Having driven it a few times, from it’s strong smooth power and sensation of plenty of speed and premium looks, I assumed it was a V6. Was surprised to see it was a 4 banger when eventually saw under the hood. It looked much better than its sister Ford Probe that had apparently been uglified to make it look different. Only thing that shocked me was that an ’89 car didn’t have self-adjusting rear drum brakes! The linings wore down to the metal of the shoes on one end while 3/4’s of the lining remained on the rest of the shoe. Two owners loved that car and the first owner eventually regretted selling it. Unfortunately it was wrecked while still in good condition.
I’m thinking that Mazda – or at least its domestic advertising agency – had no idea that Ingmar and Ingrid were no relation. Confusion perhaps aided by the fact that Ingmar’s wife’s name was Ingrid although she was very much a different Ingrid Bergman than the other Ingrid Bergman. Likely a whole lot more than the folks who came up with “All technology and performance is for sensual expression” could really keep track of. (I want a t-shirt with that phrase on it. I really do.)
Nope, this was an idea hatched after another late night after work at the karaoke bar; the stock photo was ordered; and then they were off to the races.
Only later did Mazda briefly consider renaming the Persona to be the Mazda Casablanca. After all, we’ll always have Hiroshima, mon amour.
What an interesting car I have never heard of. The styling is just a little off. Like something you would see in an alternative universe.
The dashboard looks pretty functional to me. I miss the late 80s, early 90s dashboards.
I can remember those Carrina EDs being all over Tokyo here in the go-go 80’s. I had some time to kill and visited a showroom once to look at one – nice, but found the interior was just too small.
An an aside, Ingrid Bergman is very well known here in Japan, and her visage is used quite a bit in advertising. Same with Audrey Hepburn.
Here’s looking at you, kid. Maybe you can answer what may be a simple question:
Why do Japanese cars in Japan seem to have names/lettering in English?
The best version of La Marseillaise that I’ve ever heard is in the movie Casablanca.
Hollywood can sometimes do some things perfect. Or maybe it sounds good because there is so much emotion in that scene…
It’s an interesting question – my take from being here for 30 years is that English or Roman lettered words carry a certain cachet and prestige. English is also used widely for other types of consumer products. I’ve also heard that it makes it easer to market their cars worldwide.
What a deliciously bizarre-tasting bit of froth from the bubble economy. Goes from being an awkward ’83 Audi 100CD interpretation at the rear before transmogrifying gracelessly into the entirely competent but dull 626 at the front, complete with the firewall-on looking too tall for the rest, all whilst leaving a mild taste of the awful Oldsmobile Underarm (or whatever it was called). Must be like piloting a dead fish, as I recall the pillared 626 of this era already being a bit flexible in its compass and squeaky on the door rubbers as it was.
Imagine if the bubble hadn’t popped: we’d probably have seen a pillarless, roofless hatchback version of it. With a rotary at both ends.
The introductory photo had me wondering where the front shoulder belts were located. I don’t believe attaching their upper anchorages to the rear doors would have passed muster with US regulations. As others here have pointed out, other solutions were possible: stub pillars, straps hanging from the roof, or belts integrated fully into the seats.
There must have been stub pillars already for the doors to hinge off, surely?
I’m no body engineer, but if they were strong enough to swing a door from, and keep it shut in a crash, surely they’d have been strong enough to anchor a belt on?
No doubt there were stub pillars for hinging the rear doors, but for optimal upper anchorage placement of the shoulder belts, the pillars would have to extend some distance above the beltline.
I think it was not a case of their not being strong enough so much as not being wide enough. Looking at the interior door shut lines makes it clear why it wouldn’t have worked: