I am saddened by the recent death (as of the time of writing this post) of French Actor Alain Delon.

In the early 1980’s, when the Mazda Motor Corporation had put into production the GC Capella/626, and their the Oceanic business arm of their then-partner, the Ford Motor Company; had simultaneously put their version of the GC Capella into production, the AR/AS Ford Telstar; Alain Delon had appeared in Television Commercials for the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) version of the GC Capella, with songs by Japanese Musical Artist Akira Fuse, and Canadian Music Artist Vicki Moss (famous for at one time; dating and courting NHL Player Wayne Gretzky) used in the Audio of these Television Commercials starring Alain Delon:

In the late 1980’s, Mazda’s then-Korean partner Asia/Kia Motors had begun to build under license the GC Mazda Capella as the Kia Concord and Capital models; even as Mazda and Ford, themselves were in the process of halting production of the GC Capella and AR/AS Telstar, and putting into production the following generation GD/GV Capella/626, the AV/AV Telstar, and their platform mate that has largely been reengineered by Ford; in order to pass as a nearly indigenous product of the Ford Motor Company: the Ford Probe.

Kia would continue to build their license-built version of the GC Mazda Capella that they called their Capital and Concord models until 1996; when they would begin to build under license a version of the contemporaneous GE Mazda Capella/626 and the AX/AY Ford Telstar; that Kia would call their Credos model.

Kia would continue to build the Credos through the time they had filed for bankruptcy in 1998, would be acquired by the fellow Korean automaker, the Hyundai Motor Company after outbidding the Ford Motor Company for acquiring Kia outright, would receive a mid-cycle refresh in 1999; and would be discontinued altogether in 2001; as Kia was in the process of ending their relationship with Mazda, and the Hyundai Motor Company was in the process of ending their relationship with Mitsubishi Motors as of this time.