Mazda has always been a company that has been most successful when it opted not to do things the way other companies were choosing to, and instead went its own weird and often wildly different way. This has been as much the case with styling as it has with mechanical engineering and it looks like that independent streak is going to continue.

In a report published on Wednesday by Autocar UK, Mazda's European design chief, Jo Stenuit, outlined Mazda's different approach to styling. He said that the company wouldn't participate in so-called "Russian doll" styling, where its vehicles look like differently sized versions of one another. 

Instead, Stenuit says, the cars will share sufficient design detail to mark them as a Mazda, but the vehicles in its lineup will all be uniquely styled. A Mazda6 won't share the same lines as a CX-3, and a Miata won't look at all like the Mazda3. This is, for us anyway, a pretty exciting idea.

Mazda's in-house designers are some of the best in the business, and we can't wait to see what they come up with, especially when you add in Mazda's firm continued commitment to improving and cleaning up the internal combustion engine and its reputation for building cars that are fun to drive.