, the Japanese brand long-known for producing sporty yet efficient mid-range vehicles, would want to take a step into the luxury arena, but the answer is simple—to reap higher profit margins and to establish an alternative in a segment that has long dominated by German automakers.

The Mazda Motor Corporation was first founded in Japan in 1920 and has since expanded to being one of the largest automakers worldwide with a large presence in North America, but the brand has yet to establish itself within the luxury market.

The brand has made clear that they’re not trying to become the next BMW but instead looking to offer consumers something different from the usual fare. When it comes to Japanese luxury cars,

Toyota’s

upscale subdivision

Lexus

often comes to mind first, but Mazda hopes to occupy a distinct space.

A new kind of luxury segment

MORE: Mazda Builds First Car in the U.S. After a Decade Long Hiatus

According to

Autobizz

, when asked about Mazda’s goal for developing a line of luxury cars UK boss Jeremy Thompson responded:

“Our ambition is to establish ourselves as a genuine non-German alternative to the typical mainstream premium. We’re not trying to imitate German premium since it’s already well-served by the incumbents, and it’ll be difficult to beat them at their own game.”

Lexus isn’t the only other Japanese luxury brand on the market, however. Acura and Infiniti also produce luxury-market cars, albeit on a smaller scale than the likes of Mazda or Toyota.

The new CX-60 through CX-90 SUVs from Mazda boasts a new RWD chassis with inline-six engines and PHEV powertrains, putting them on par with models from German automakers Mercedes, BMW, and Audi, but only time will tell how consumers will respond to the premium makes from Mazda.

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The evolution of Mazda’s image

MORE: The Mazda 626 a Piece of Early 2000s Nostalgia

This isn’t Mazda’s first foray into a rebrand of sorts—in the early 1990s the Amati sub-brand was launched but quickly folded due to the Japanese economic crash of 1992 in what later became known as the lost decade.

There was hope for a brief revival in 1994, but the brand was ultimately shelved by Mazda due to the ongoing period of economic stagnation. In 1995, the Ford Motor Company bought an additional 12% of the company to inject some cash flow into the company and hopefully return them to profitability, but it wasn’t enough to revive Amati.

The proposed Amati 300 and Amati 500 were executive cars on par with models such as the Infiniti G20 and the Lexus LS400. Mazda had fully completed the development of both models before the project folded.

Along with Amati, the Eunos, Autozam, and ɛ̃fini sub-brands were also discontinued. Eunos and ɛ̃fini were both forays into the upscale and luxury market for Mazda but were only produced domestically.

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