Yasushi Nakamuta, the chief designer who led the design of the third generation Mazda MX-5, was the first to begin the ideation of the Mazda Shinari Concept:
"The challenge for us was to create an innovative new expression for energetic and powerful movement; something that we had never attempted before. We began by developing the design around the image of a predator, as it strikes at its prey, or the stabbing movement in kendo, Japanese fencing, to express the instant where accumulated force is released."