Mazda was founded in Hiroshima to make cork substitutes.
It began in 1920 as Toyo Cork Kogyo, set up by Hiroshima businessmen to rescue a struggling artificial-cork maker. It moved into machine tools, then three-wheeled trucks, then cars. In 1991 the one-time cork maker won the Le Mans 24 Hours outright, the only win there ever taken by a rotary engine.
Mazda on Brandseum