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Mazda unveiled the latest of its Nagare concept cars at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit with the Furai P2 concept. Whereas previous Nagare concepts—including the Nagare concept that debuted at Los Angeles in 2006; Mazda Ryuga, first shown a year ago in Detroit; Mazda Hakaze, which appeared in Geneva last year; and Mazda Taiki, the star of the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show–were aesthetic statements to express Mazda’s design philosophy, Furai is all about function. Mazda’s design, motorsports and R&D teams worked together to construct Furai as a 180-mph rolling laboratory to demonstrate its functional capabilities.

But Furai is not only about design. It’s an example of Mazda’s commitment to alternative renewable fuels, called “Sustainable Zoom-Zoom.” Furai’s three-rotor powerplant has been tuned to run powerfully on ethanol (ethyl alcohol) and ethanol gasoline blends. Mazda and partner BP continue research into other renewable and future fuels, including ethanol gasoline blends like E10 (10% ethanol and 90% gasoline), making Ethanol from cellulostic materials, and future renewable gasoline components like Butanol.

Mazda contends that their Nagare concept cars are built with an eye to production. We might not see a Hakaze or Ryuga on the road, but the design cues that inspire Nagare will make it into Mazda’s production line. Mazda neither intends to race Furai, nor is it a supercar the company plans to build and sell in the near future, but it’s a design study that lives between those extremes. Mazda’s debuting concepts like the Furai at the North American International Auto Show is an opportunity to evolve the Nagare design theme one step closer to reality.