This site section is telling the full Xedos 6 model history..

Why... "Mazda"?:

The name Mazda derives from Ahura Mazda, the most important zoroastrian divinity of reason who gave wisdom to mankind and let men, nature and all other divinities combine together. Indeed, the pronunciation of its name has a very similar sound to the Japanese Company founder name, Mr Jujiro Matsuda. He estabilished the Company in 1920 as Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd. During 2001 Mazda has celebrated its first 70 years of cars production.

 

The reasons of the Xedos 6 birth:

Mazda Motors Japan decided to follow the example of other Japanese "generic" car makers, creating a specific new brand for luxury products with a high-level image. Honda had Acura, Nissan had Infiniti, Toyota had Lexus: Mazda created the Eunos range. 

The root of the brand name is very easy to understand: it is formed by two different words. In Ancient Greek "EU" stands for "good" and the abbreviation "NoS" obviously stands for "numbers" in English. The aim is clear: to create a family of new vehicles with first class finishing level and an excellent driving pleasure.

This new brand name will be used just on some marketplaces, generally all the Asian Countries and the internal one in Japan. For the European markets, the usual Mazda name will still be used as much more well known by the Western customers.

 

January 1992:

On the internal Japanese marketplace is launched the first vehicle born from the Eunos project: the 500. At the end of the year, exportation towards the European markets begin, particularly to the UK (which is sharing with Japan the same right hand drive rule).  The car will have a different name: it is called "Xedos 6". From this moment on, all the luxury product line will have the sub-brand name Xedos, followed by a number that is identifying a dimensional range: "6" for the mid-size car and "9" for a big-size model.

 

January 1993:

The sales of the left hand drive versions start on the major European markets, too. The Italian distributor will only sell the 2.0-litre V6 24 valve model, equipped with all the available options. The most importart competitor for brand image and manufacturing quality is the German BMW 3 Series (320i), the only other model on the market provided with a 2.0-litre 6-cylinders engine. At the same time, Mazda is introducing on the Japanese market the larger Eunos 800 (called Xedos 9 in Europe, Mazda Millenia on the American market).

 

1994:

Minor modifications to engine specifications, due to new anti-pollution rules. No exterior restyling at all. 

 

1996:

New little engine power modifications, due to the Euro-2 emission levels requirements. Introduction of some minor modifications. The plastic tail lights are subject to some changes, being now fully coloured (as the Japanese version) and not bi-coloured in red and dark gray as they used to be. No further changes to metal body sheets and/or interiors. The Company management takes the decision to simplify some minor details, such as the the internal light on the ignition key lock: it will be removed. Mazda Motors CEO is now American, coming from Ford Motor Company staff. 

 

1997:

Mazda goes for a strong "restyling" of its logo: it is now a big "M" inscribed into an ellipse.

 

End of 1999:

Ford Motor Company Inc. has now been the major shareholder of the Mazda Motors stocks (with a part of about 33.4%) for a long time. The Japanese Company goes through a heavy internal reorganization. The new American top-management declares the sales death of the Xedos 6, while the Xedos 9 will survive due to the good success met on the American marketplace.

72,101 units of the Xedos 6 / Eunos 500 have been sold all over the world, since 1992.