Straightline
Tokyo Motor Show
November 3, 2007
We've reported on the Subaru G4e concept that was recently shown at the Tokyo auto show several times. However, I suspect, because of all the show hoopla at the time, that the main feature of this car may have been lost; and that being the huge improvement in plug-in battery technology that this car displays.
The 65-kilowatt, high energy-density lithium-ion batteries that power the vehicle gives the G4e a 200km range from a charge, which more than doubles the previous R1e’s range. By using a quick-charger, the battery can be brought up to 80% charge in only 15 minutes...
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- Posted by: Bob Holland November 3, 2007, 6:54 AM
- Categories: All Auto Shows, Green Tech, Subaru, Tokyo Motor Show
October 29, 2007
Honda announced at the Tokyo auto show that there will be a US-spec Accord diesel for 2009. The engine displaces 2.2L, and is expected to produce 150 horsepower and 260 lb-ft of torque. Unique to the Honda diesel is the fact that is will not need a urea injection system like Mercedes and VW, but rather will have a NOx converter that produces its own ammonia through a chemical reaction that reacts with the NOx to produce harmless nitrogen and water. The advantage this has over the Mercedes/VW urea unit is that it will not need to be replenished with AdBlue liquid, which is needed for the urea system to work...
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October 26, 2007
Tokyo's Shinjuku district is not especially convenient for getting to the Makuhari Messe for the auto show, but it's still a good place to stay -- plenty of fine hotels, lots of neon lights, a varied selection of nightlife, and an Alfa Romeo dealership built under a Denny's. The last time I visited it was BMW of Tokyo, which was even funnier.
The menu at the Denny's is about half American favorites and half Japanese cuisine, meaning you can order a Grand Slam with a starter course of miso soup. --Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor
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- Posted by: Erin Riches October 26, 2007, 8:12 AM
- Categories: Alfa Romeo, Tokyo Motor Show
We've made much of the Taiki's crazy rear wheels in previous stories about the concept. And, after seeing them in person here at the Tokyo show, we still think they're crazy. But we will not go there again. Besides we've run out of silly comparisons (shopping-cart casters, training wheels, etc, etc)...
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- Posted by: Daniel Pund October 24, 2007, 10:55 PM
- Categories: Future Vehicles, Mazda, Tokyo Motor Show
I just spent 30 minutes with Carlos Ghosn, the CEO of Renault and Nissan. The man is a sound bite machine. Here are some highlights.
On the immediate success of the GT-R: "We're receiving bulk orders for the GT-R from the Middle East...
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- Posted by: October 24, 2007, 8:11 PM
- Categories: Nissan, Tokyo Motor Show
Hometown superstar Toyota Motor Corp. stuck Chief Executive Katsuaki Watanabe in its i-Real personal mobility pod concept -- a three-wheeler that looks like the love child of a Segway and a Jetsons-inspired wheelchair -- and had him roll around the stage for a few minutes before launching into his presentation at the company's Tokyo auto show press conference (that's not him in the picture).
Toyota, he said, is all about sustainability -- a catchword that either means "we've got to do something to make sure the planet endures," or "whatever we do has to be able to pay for itself."
Anyhow, the company is going to be focusing in the future on environmental, safety and energy issues. And while the electric i-Real is an idea whose time might not have come yet, the concept -- step in, sit down and go, without taking up much space or spewing out many pollutants -- is intriguing...
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- Posted by: Ed Hellwig October 24, 2007, 8:10 PM
- Categories: Green Tech, Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota
Nissan's Executive Vice President Carlos Tavares has become the latest big-name exec to predict a big future for diesel in the U.S. Nissan will introduce a Renault-made V6 diesel in the Maxima in 2010, and although Tavares admits that he's "just guessing about the volumes," he believes that "when customers understand what a clean diesel means, we will change the image."
Tavares admitted that a U.S. customer's "reference point is far away" in terms of their expectations of diesel performance. "We shouldn't talk about diesel; we should let them drive the car," he said...
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- Posted by: Ed Hellwig October 24, 2007, 8:01 PM
- Categories: Green Tech, Nissan, Tokyo Motor Show, Trends
It's official, there will be a 2010 Nissan GT-R Spec V and it will be sold in America. A Nissan source has confirmed that a lightweight, more powerful version of the new supercar is nearly complete and will arrive in America about a year after the GT-R hits U.S. dealers early next summer. -- Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief
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- Posted by: October 24, 2007, 8:01 PM
- Categories: Nissan, Tokyo Motor Show
Or maybe it's the Mitsubishi Evolution X. Or it could be the Mitsubishi Evo. Or it could be the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. But it's not the Mitsubishi Galant Fortis, even though that is actually a Lancer...
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- Posted by: Daniel Pund October 24, 2007, 7:28 PM
- Categories: Mitsubishi, Sedans, Tokyo Motor Show
The award for the coolest pre-reveal car cover goes to BMW. It's got racing stripes for plum sake and not just racing stripes, but racing stripes in the traditional M Division colors. The reason for that is what's underneath. It's the 2008 BMW M3 Sedan...
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- Posted by: October 24, 2007, 5:44 PM
- Categories: BMW, Tokyo Motor Show
Just as the cute and cuddly concept cars of the Tokyo auto show were about to eat us alive, we saw a racecar, a dirty one with tire scuff marks that no one had bothered to detail, and most unbelievable of all, it was a Honda Accord. Actually, to us, it was an Acura TSX. And instead of an 800,000-rpm VTEC motor under the hood, this car had an oil burner... Honda's 2.2-liter turbodiesel four-cylinder.
The interior of this right-hand-drive car has been fitted with a roll cage and stripped of every seat except the driver's, which is a full-on racing seat with a five-point harness. Honda has been using the car for endurance racing at the Twin Ring Motegi facility in Japan, and as you can see from this strip of tape, drivers kept track of how many laps they were able to get out of the car after each fill-up.
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- Posted by: Erin Riches October 24, 2007, 8:49 AM
- Categories: Acura, Diesels, Honda, Motorsports, Tokyo Motor Show
Ikuo Mori, president and CEO of Fuji Heavy Industries, gave only passing mention to the Subaru Exiga at the company's Tokyo press conference. He never used the word "minivan," but that's exactly what the Exiga (or whatever name FHI settles on) will be when the production version goes on sale.
It should do well in a market where, based on our extensive observation during long bus rides to and from Makuhari Messe, buyers prefer hinged rear doors instead of sliders, and four-cylinder engines instead of thirsty sixes, while insisting upon a minimum of one entertainment screen per row of seating. -- Erin Riches, Senior Content Editor
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- Posted by: Erin Riches October 24, 2007, 8:29 AM
- Categories: Minivans, Subaru, Tokyo Motor Show, Wagons
Most likely no one will remember anything but the STI from Subaru's press conference today in Tokyo... mainly because the other two cars will never inspire philosophical debates on steering feedback or the proper use of the word fugly. One of them was the Subaru G4e Concept, an electric car with a lithium-ion battery pack mounted under its floor. In our full story, we were underwhelmed by its scant 200-km driving range, which is exactly the sentiment you'd expect from California-based writers.
However, after examining the car in the metal, we came away with a slightly higher opinion of the G4e. First, Subaru has obviously given some thought to how one might compensate for the massive amount of weight battery packs add to a car. In addition to mounting the pack low, the company designed an aluminum chassis for the G4e, which is unheard of in a subcompact.
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- Posted by: Erin Riches October 24, 2007, 7:44 AM
- Categories: Green Tech, Subaru, Tokyo Motor Show
You expect to see a little bit of everything at the Tokyo auto show, but not necessarily at one conference. Suzuki managed to squeeze five world premieres into a single, 20-minute press intro. Now that's efficiency in action.
The biggest news, in every sense of the word, was the Concept Kizashi 2 (shown above)...
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- Posted by: Karl Brauer October 24, 2007, 2:30 AM
- Categories: Suzuki, Tokyo Motor Show
Word on the Tokyo auto show floor is that the Lexus LF-A supercar is a no show because it's not fast enough. Lexus wants it to reach 350 kp/h but it'll only touch 330 kp/h. That's 205 mph. Seems fast enough to us, but Lexus wants the LF-A to be faster than all its rivals...
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- Posted by: October 24, 2007, 12:17 AM
- Categories: Lexus, Tokyo Motor Show
October 23, 2007
We'd like to tell you what happened at the official press conference for the 2009 Nissan GT-R, but we couldn't get in. People wall to wall. Looked like a prison riot. When it was over, however, we did grab this snazzy snap of the car on stage and a GT-R press kit...
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- Posted by: October 23, 2007, 11:51 PM
- Categories: Nissan, Tokyo Motor Show
The prize for the most surreal pre-show show went to Nissan, which unveiled the new GT-R in a hastily modified underground car park. So much has already been said and written about this car that the unveil was hardly a shock, but Project Chief Kazutoshi Mizuno still had some interesting nuggets to share. Plus, we got to see the supercar in red.
Much is being made of the car's lap time at the famous Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in Germany...
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- Posted by: October 23, 2007, 11:42 PM
- Categories: Nissan, Tokyo Motor Show
We didn't learn many new facts about the 2008 Subaru WRX STI today in Tokyo, but somehow, and maybe it's jet lag talking, the car was less unattractive than expected.
Then again, with one unveiled STI at the edge of the display, a veiled STI on the stage and the WRC car presiding over the whole stand, it was hard not to be just a little excited about what this car might be like to drive.
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- Posted by: Erin Riches October 23, 2007, 10:29 PM
- Categories: Hatchbacks, Sports Cars, Subaru, Tokyo Motor Show
As at any auto show, there are concept cars and there are "concept cars." Some concepts are there just as eye candy and a workout for designers' oddest fantasies. (Many of this variety of concept are actually edible.) Other concepts exist to prepare the press and public for a production vehicle. The Mitsubishi concept with the really unfortunate name, the ZT, is of the latter variety. It is a styling concept for the next-generation Mitsubishi large sedan...
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- Posted by: Daniel Pund October 23, 2007, 10:29 PM
- Categories: Mitsubishi, Sedans, Tokyo Motor Show
Welcome to Tokyo! -- Daniel Pund, Senior Editor, Detroit, Inside Line
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- Posted by: Daniel Pund October 23, 2007, 9:38 PM
- Categories: Tokyo Motor Show
Should you need any more evidence that the world of cars has become a crazy, mixed-up international world, you should have been at the Tokyo auto show's first press conference this morning. The company displayed more languages at its press conference than it did automobiles. You had German (of course), Japanese, Italian and English. No Esperanto though...
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- Posted by: Daniel Pund October 23, 2007, 9:19 PM
- Categories: Auto Industry, Tokyo Motor Show, Volkswagen
Yesterday I was treated to a very extensive tour of the Nissan design studio outside Tokyo. We were there for hours. This was the highlight, a couple of guys scraping away at a clay of the G37 Coupe, a car we've seen since early summer. Actually they showed us the 2008 Murano and the next Maxima, too, but they wouldn't let me take pictures of those...
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- Posted by: October 23, 2007, 9:03 PM
- Categories: Nissan, Tokyo Motor Show
The 2007 Tokyo Auto Show has been open officially for four hours. So far Ferrari wins.
Scott Oldham, Inside Line Editor in Chief
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- Posted by: October 23, 2007, 8:51 PM
- Categories: Ferrari, Tokyo Motor Show
We thought Audi had exhausted the Bryan Adams card already in Frankfurt. But no, the hair was back again along with another '80s flashback favorite played thanks to Audi's new integrated music player/cell phone. Audi's Chairman of the Board, Rupert Stadler, demonstrated just how easy the device is able to connect to the Metroproject concept after the car's official unveil here in Tokyo.
After contemplating which song he would use for the momentous occasion, he fired up a little "Run to You" and slid behind the wheel...
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- Posted by: Ed Hellwig October 23, 2007, 8:11 PM
- Categories: Audi, Coupes, Hybrids, Tokyo Motor Show
October 20, 2007
It looks like Audi is taking a page out of the odd Japanese car naming play book with their Metroproject Quattro concept. Since the vehicle will debut at the Tokyo auto show, maybe it makes sense; who knows...
In any event this is Audi's first attempt at displaying a hybrid, and judging by the "quattro" part of the name, you would assume that it's AWD. The car also has an all-electric mode, which has a range of 62 miles...
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- Posted by: Bob Holland October 20, 2007, 4:00 AM
- Categories: All Auto Shows, Audi, Hybrids, Tokyo Motor Show
October 16, 2007
The wait is over. Undisguised 2009 Nissan GT-R photos have now become available prior to the car’s official debut at the 2007 Tokyo Auto Show.
Numerous GT-R prototypes have been caught testing around the world, including Germany’s Nurburgring and California’s Laguna Seca Raceway, but this is the first look at the rocket sedan’s completely undisguised sheetmetal.
Official specifications aren’t expected to be announced until Nissan’s Tokyo show press conference on October 24, but months of spy intelligence suggest the all-wheel-drive 2009 GT-R will get a 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 that produces approximately 450 horsepower.
Nissan says the GT-R will accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 3.5 seconds, finish the quarter mile in 11.7 seconds and reach a top speed of 192 mph. Base price is expected to be less than $80,000.
If true, the GT-R will be true competition for the Porsche 911 Turbo, which it has been routinely seen testing alongside.
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October 15, 2007
New images of the previously posted Subaru G4e concept (2007 Tokyo Auto Show Preview: Subaru G4e EV concept) have shown up on the Net.
The more I see this car, the more I like it—and I do see a "Subaru look" emerging here. The front hints at what we see in the new Impreza. My feeling is that the front of the new Impreza, while pretty good, is not fully resolved...
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- Posted by: Bob Holland October 15, 2007, 4:00 AM
- Categories: All Auto Shows, Daihatsu, Subaru, Tokyo Motor Show
October 12, 2007
Nissan has taken note that the Toyota Avalon has been a hit with the Buick and Mercury crowd, and has therefore decided to also take a shot at that audience with this Intima sedan concept.
Nissan describes the Intima with words like: "attractive design, hospitality, relaxation and high quality with high levels of functionality and advanced technology." Inside Line is a bit more direct, as they describe it as "a nice, comfortable car for old folks."
2007 Tokyo Auto Show Preview: Nissan Intima
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- Posted by: Bob Holland October 12, 2007, 4:00 AM
- Categories: All Auto Shows, Nissan, Tokyo Motor Show, Toyota
The Toyota Hi-CT Concept is one of a whole slew of odd concepts that Toyota will be showing at the Tokyo auto show. It's a plug-in hybrid that occupies roughly the same footprint of a Scion.
I like the way the running board is integrated into the bodywork. I'd like to see this type of treatment used on SUVs and trucks, as their running boards, without exception, look like tacked on Pep Boys aftermarket accessories...
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Not sure about this one; it appears Subaru is dusting off an old name and applying it to an equally old idea.
Subaru first showed an Exiga concept way back in 1996. It's not unlike what we see here, a somewhat tall 7-passenger wagon. This new version is powered by a 2.0L boxer turbo, and has a 2750mm wheelbase...
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