Eunos 500

The Eunos 500 was a luxury car from Mazda's Eunos marque. The 500 was first shown to the public at the 1991 Tokyo Motor Show, and Japanest launch followed soon in early 1992.

Eunos (along with its counterparts Amati and Xedos) was meant to be Mazda's luxury brand. To this effect several enhancements were made to the 500 to push it upmarket, such as tighter panel gaps and the paint coating Mazda dubbed hi-reflection coat, as well as being the first product to roll off a new dedicated production line. The same vehicle would have perhaps been exported to the United States as an unknown third companion to the Amati 500 if the Amati marque had been launched.

Layout-wise the 500's most noticeable for being lower and narrower than the other vehicles sharing the Mazda Cronos platform. In Japanese taxation terms, the 500 is a "5-number" car, coming in at under 1700mm in width, while its other siblings have been pushed into the "3-number" category at around 1760mm. This also meant that, when sales of wider models like Cronos and MX-6 failed,the 500 served as a base for the narrow-bodied 1994 Mazda Capella, which was a stopgap measure to provide a "5-number" sedan in Mazda's lineup. During the early 1990s, width was popularly blamed for the dwindling sales of many cars in the Japanese market, but the criticism was exacerbated at Mazda as it did not have a traditional "5-number" mid-sized sedan; it was either the 500, or the radical Lantis.

Engines:

• 1.8 L FP-DE DOHC I4 added later
• 1.8 L K8-ZE DOHC V6 available at Japanese launch
• 2.0 L KF-ZE DOHC V6 available at Japanese launch