One of the biggest news to come out from Mazda at the LA Auto Show is a brand-new shade that replaces the trademark Soul Red—Soul Red Crystal. First debuting on the all-new Mazda CX-5, Soul Red Crystal is now the embodiment of the KODO – Soul of Motion design language.

But what is Soul Red Crystal exactly?

In the belief that “color is an element of form,” Mazda has focused on developing colors that highlight the beauty and quality of its KODO designs. Soul Red Crystal is an advanced version of Soul Red that balances vibrant energy and vividness with clear depth and gloss. It boasts 20 percent greater color saturation and 50 percent more depth than Soul Red, for a fresher, lustrous transparence.

The paint retains a simple three-layer structure comprising clear, translucent and reflective coats, but represents an evolution of Mazda’s Takuminuri painting technology. Takuminuri gives mass-production vehicles a precise, high-quality finish that looks like it has been hand-sprayed by a master craftsman. It has been used previously with Soul Red and Machine Gray.


The new paint’s translucent layer features a newly developed highly saturated red pigment for a richer red. In addition to high-brilliance, extremely thin aluminum flakes, the reflective coat features light-absorbing flakes that intensify shaded areas and make it possible to achieve a depth of color that previously required two layers.

The aluminum flakes were made a uniform size, the consistency of the paint was enhanced and a technique to shrink the volume of paint during the drying process was employed. This results in even, smooth coverage of the aluminum and light-absorbing flakes on the car’s body and more precise control of light reflection, making for a substantially deeper and more vivid color.

This coat structure technology combines coloring and functionality, enabling Mazda to apply Soul Red Crystal, a designer color that would usually require more layers, in the same environmentally friendly paint shops that produce its regular body colors.