Salaff Cars

Cars People

passion and vision - Carlos Salaff launches his own car brand


Carlos Salaff played a key role in Mazda’s Southern California design studio for close to a decade.

He played a key role in the exterior design of the Mazda Ryuga, Nagare and Furai concept cars as well as production vehicles like the CX-7, Mazda 3 and new MX-5.

In 2012 he began the formation of his own car company and the design/build of the first prototype, the Caden, which is named after Carlos’s son (pictured here).

Salaff cars are heavily informed by the designer’s love of of the sorts of racing cars that took centre stage between the early sixties through to the mid 1980s. Many of these cars were raw mechanical monsters, and were characterised by the small, passionate teams that built and designed them.

“For the past three years I have been sketching, creating physical models, and working in the computer to develop and finalise my design,” says Carlos. “This has been primarily a solitary experience,” He says, “until recently when I brought on several experienced craftsmen to help bring my dream from the digital world into reality.”

The Caden’s aluminium body panels are being fabricated by Ohio-based Pete’s Custom Coachbuilding. And a Texas based shop specialising in restoring vintage race cars is hand-fabricating the chassis.

It’s inspiring to see one man operations with a vision stepping into the arena once full of like minds but dominated now by huge, faceless corporations. Stay tuned to Carlos’s website for updates on the project.

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