Eunos (automobile)

Eunos
Company type	Division
Industry	Automotive
Founded	1989
Defunct	1996
Fate	Defunct
Headquarters	Hiroshima, Japan
Area served	Japan; Australia;
Products	Automobiles
Parent	Mazda

Eunos (ユーノス, Yūnosu) was a marque of Japanese automaker Mazda, marketed as its upscale, fun to drive line. The brand existed in Japan from 1989 to 1996, when sales operations were integrated into ɛ̃fini, and Australia from 1992 to 1996, when it was integrated into the main Mazda model range as a premium sub-brand.^[1]

History

In the late 1980s, Mazda diversified in the Japan market with the launch of three new marques. The company created Autozam, Eunos, and ɛ̃fini, in addition to the Mazda and Ford brands already marketed by it there.

The Eunos marque, was marketed as a fun to drive, upscale brand compared to entry level Autozam, traditional Mazda products, and exclusive luxury brand ɛ̃fini. The name was derived for the ancient Greek "eu" meaning "good" and "nos", an abbreviation of "numbers" in English, meant to signify a number, or assortment, of good things. The Marque was launched in Japan with the Eunos 500 in January, 1992 and many of the vehicles created were exported to other markets.

From 1991 until 1996, when the Eunos dealership was integrated into Mazda locations, Citroën products were sold to Japanese buyers, as well as Mazda's ɛ̃fini locations.

This experiment was ended in the mid-1990s. Some of the vehicles sold under the Eunos brand were intended to be sold in North America under the Amati brand, but due to economic conditions, largely attributed to the collapse of the Japanese asset price bubble in 1991, Amati was not launched.

The Eunos name was brought back in 2020 for a limited edition of the Mazda MX-5 in France as the MX-5 Eunos Edition, a nod to how the original MX-5 was sold as the Eunos Roadster in Japan.^[2]