Toyota Reveals Production Prius C; Will Bring It, FT-86, and Three Concepts to Tokyo Auto Show

Tokyo is as close as Toyota gets to having an auto show on its home turf. And like the Detroit Three do at the Motor City’s annual blowout, the Japanese company is set to debut a large batch of concept and production cars at this year’s Tokyo show. The production-ready versions of the rear-drive FT-86 sports car and the Prius C (called Aqua in Japan) will be on hand, as will three green concept cars with names made up of alphabet-soup acronyms: Fun-Vii (Fun Vehicle interactive internet), FCV-R (Fuel Cell Vehicle – Reality & Revolution), and FT-EV III (Future Toyota – Electric Vehicle III).

2012 Prius C

Thanks to a leaked Japanese-market brochure, we already know most of the upcoming Prius C’s specifics, but Toyota released a few official photos along with some new information on the eve of the car’s Tokyo debut. The company claims that the C will return more than 50 mpg in city driving, greater than any non-plug-in hybrid. The larger Prius is rated at 51 mpg in city driving, so we assume the C will beat that figure. Bluetooth connectivity, steering-wheel-mounted audio controls, and nine airbags will be standard on the U.S. model; Toyota’s new Entune infotainment system will be optional. The C is set to go on sale in Japan in late December 2011 before hitting other markets. Interestingly, those other markets won’t include Europe—we imagine the Continent’s cool attitude towards hybrids played a factor in Toyota’s decision.

2012 FT-86

Toyota didn’t give away any new information or release any photos of the upcoming FT-86 sports car (the FT-86 II concept is pictured above) that will be revealed in Tokyo. The FT-86 was co-developed by Toyota and Subaru, and Subie’s version, the BRZ, also will debut at the Tokyo show. We already know most of the FT-86’s mechanical details and we’ve seen what it will look like via a leaked brochure, but we expect to finally get the official run-down after its Tokyo premiere.

Fun-Vii Concept

To be honest, we’re not completely sure what the Fun-Vii concept is all about, or even what the acronym in its name means. According to Toyota, the “Fun Vehicle interactive internet” is the company’s “vision of a future where people, cars, and society are linked.” Sure. And no, we don’t know what is going on in the photo above. Guess we’ll have to wait until its reveal to see what this one’s all about.

FT-EV III Concept

As the FT-EV III’s name—“Future Toyota – Electric Vehicle III”—suggests, it is the third in a line of electric concept vehicles Toyota has developed to showcase a future short-range production EV. If you’re thinking it looks a lot like a Toyota/Scion iQ, that’s because it is an iQ, but electric. The original FT-EV was unabashedly an electric iQ, while the FT-EV II that followed a few months later was much more unique and was less iQ-like. (It wore bespoke styling and was significantly smaller than the iQ). Toyota says the FT-EV III’s lithium-ion battery is good for a 65-mile range on the optimistic Japanese JC08 testing cycle and that its EV technology will migrate to a production vehicle due sometime in 2012. We know that Scion will sell an electric iQ to fleets in 2012, so this could be a preview of that car.

FCV-R Concept

Like Honda, which has delivered a few copies of its FCX Clarity to real customers, Toyota is serious about fuel-cell vehicles. More than just a Prius with a Fu Manchu mustache, the FCV-R concept is another step toward the goal of putting such a car on the road by 2015. The fuel-cell stack, with a high-pressure hydrogen tank, has been improved to provide a cruising distance of about 435 miles.

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Land Rover Bringing Slightly Altered DC100 Concepts to L.A. Auto Show

The two DC100 variants that Land Rover debuted at the 2011 Frankfurt auto show, a hardtop and the roofless Sport, mark the beginning of one of the company’s most difficult tasks yet: determining the shape of the next-generation Defender off-roader. Rover is bringing the two concepts to the L.A. auto show, but with a few subtle tweaks.

To that end, the yellow DC100 Sport now has a storage rack mounted to its rear deck. As for the DC100 hardtop concept, Land Rover painted it blue—but left the roof white, to better remind of the Toyota FJ Cruiser. It also gets rolling stock that looks a little more off-road-ready than the ridiculous big-wheel and low-profile-tire package it wore in Frankfurt. While such a small change makes the DC100 look a little more ready for the trail, both concepts are still a long way from the final shape of the Defender replacement. Gerry McGovern, Land Rover’s design director, tells us that these two mark “the beginning of a four-year journey” in search of the appropriate shape.

Tags: 2011 L.A. auto show, Land Rover, Land Rover DC100 concept, Land Rover DC100 Sport concept |

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Daihatsu to unveil trio of concepts at 2011 Tokyo Motor Show

At the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show Daihatsu will present three different concept cars: Pico, a 2-seater electric city car; D-X, a compact reconfigurable sportscar; and FC Sho Care, a fuel cell boxy vehicle.

The three concepts are focused on different transport applications and share the compact dimensions and a particular focus on fuel efficiency.

The Pico is a compact city commuter targeted to a wide range of customers, including elderly people.

The D-X is more oriented towards leisure activities and features a reconfigurable body, a compact 2-cylinder turbocharged unit and resin-based outer panels.

The FC Sho Case is a experimental vehicle with a boxy design that explores the potential of fuel cell powertrains. Among the features are the boxy design and the single, large gullwing door.

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Honda in Tokyo / Seven Concepts Debuting / All Electrified (One’s a Sports Car)

At its home-market auto show in Tokyo, Honda will unveil three concept cars, three two-wheeled concepts, and one folding chair on wheels. Each has some sort of electrification, either with batteries alone or in a hybrid system. Short on info, we present this preview in haiku.

Small Sports EV Concept

Open-top driving
With the motor in the back
EV could be fun

AC-X Concept

Plug-in hybrid car
We’ve seen your platform before
Are you an Accord?

Micro Commuter Concept

The future is now
Everything looks crazy here
Welcome to Japan

Motor Compo Concept

You scoot around town
With a mobile power source
Wall-E would be proud

E-Canopy Concept

Serene on three wheels
Electricity moves you
Delivery man

RC-E Concept

Compact and lightweight
The road ahead is curvy
On this EV bike

Townwalker Concept

Exalt the elders
Who ride in this chair
It fits in a trunk

The company also will show the first in its new series of N minicars, the N BOX. It’s a kei car with rear sliding doors. And it’s boxy. The letter N has a history with little Hondas, having been used in the 1960s and ’70s on the N360 and N600.

Tags: 2011 Tokyo auto show, auto shows, electric, Honda, Honda AC-X concept, Honda E-Canopy concept, Honda Micro Commuter concept, Honda Motor Compo concept, Honda N BOX, Honda RC-E concept, Honda Small Sports EV concept, Honda Townwalker concept, plug-in hybrid |

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2013 Audi A3 Interior Spied, Looks Similar to the Concept’s

Prototypes of the upcoming Audi A3 have been running around for a few months now—we posted some spy photos a while back—so why run pictures of what might be the exact same car again? Because this time, our spies were able to peek inside.

The interior appears more upscale than that of the outgoing A3, if not quite as avant-garde as the guts of the A3 concept that debuted to much fanfare at the Geneva auto show in March. Significantly, the A3 seen here features a new-school MMI infotainment system with a flip-up display screen above prominent, turbine-style air vents. In the A6, A7, and A8, there’s a touchpad next to the MMI controller on which drivers can scrawl characters with a fingertip as a means of entering information into the navigation system. In the A3 concept—and in the prototype seen here, we’re guessing—that touchpad resides on top of the MMI knob itself.

As for the exterior, the pictures we ran back in August actually show more than these, since this three-door is wearing a coat of aneurysm-inducing squiggles instead of the more-revealing matte black of that last prototype. Both put most of the headlights on display, but obscure other key stylistic elements such as Audi’s signature grille frame and the LED taillights.

Just as with the current car, we are more or less guaranteed to not get the A3 as a three-door in the U.S., although we will be able to buy it in sedan and five-door hatchback forms. The latter will almost certainly be a virtual clone of the three-door, but with an extra cutline on either side. You can find a rundown of what we expect to see under the hood, including diesel and S-grade motors, by reading our previous story here.

Of the various body styles, the three-door is expected to appear first, with a European debut in 2012. Sedan and five-door models will follow in 2013. We’ll see the first next-gen A3s on our shores then, likely starting in the low-$30k range.

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Suzuki Totes Swift Sport and Three Concepts to Tokyo (Guess Which One We Want)

Suzuki may be struggling to maintain much of a presence in the U.S., but the brand remains a successful purveyor of small vehicles elsewhere in the world. Indeed, we could see the cars it’s showing at the 2011 Tokyo auto show being received well in global markets—and there’s one in particular that we wouldn’t mind seeing here. A rundown of the quartet follows.

Regina

While Suzuki sees its Regina (above) as a next-generation global compact car, it’s hard not to see the car as a sort of micro-fied update of an old French car, the Citroën DS. The homage is strongest in the droopy rear quarter with its partial fender spats, although the front end seems to evoke another “icon”: the NSU Prinz 4. We’re not sure any male would want to be seen in a car like the Regina, especially if it was named Regina—although keeping the name might guarantee Saskatchewan sales success. But anyone can appreciate the fuel-economy and weight claims: 75 mpg on gasoline (according to the Japanese JC08 test cycle) and a feathery 1609 pounds.

Q Concept

It seems like each Japanese carmaker brings at least one “fishbowl” to every Tokyo auto show, and the Q Concept is Suzuki’s 2011 effort. Just 8.2 feet in length, the two-seat Q Concept is evocative of portable CD players from the 1990s and can be configured as a passenger pod or a delivery pod (we refuse to call it a car). It can also be parked pretty much anywhere (although preferably not in direct sunlight, lest anything left inside fry like an ant under a magnifying glass. Will the Japanese succeed someday in making pods like this the norm in urban settings? Hopefully not any time soon, but you can bet your last can of fish food that they’ll keep thinking about it.

Swift EV Hybrid

Re-entering the earth’s atmosphere after admiring the pie-in-the-sky concepts above brings us to the Swift EV Hybrid, which wraps Swift clothing around range-extending tech like that used in the Chevrolet Volt. Suzuki claims that compact cars like the Swift are driven between 12 and 19 miles per day in Japan, a task the Swift EV Hybrid can handle on battery power alone. Longer distances are made possible by a range-extending engine-driven generator. Watch for it at an auto show near you, possibly renamed the Swift Range Extender.

Swift Sport

Of the four debutants that Suzuki is rolling out in Tokyo, the one we want most (and the one we would be most likely to get) is the “performance flagship of the Swift series,” the Swift Sport. Suzuki didn’t provide much in the way of details but did send along this solitary photo. The yellow Swift Sport basically appears to be a production-ready version of the Swift Sport S that Suzuki showed at the Geneva auto show last March, complete with darkened headlamp surrounds, large wheels, an aggressive front fascia, sill extensions, and a smoked single-framed grille like that found on the Kizashi. The only thing missing from the Swift S is the wide-body kit. We expect this model offer more power than the 123 horses of the last Swift Sport, while the transmission choices will be a six-speed manual or continuously variable automatic. You know which of the gearboxes we would choose.

For its part, Suzuki is still not talking about any plans to bring any Swift models here, where Suzuki dealers—the handful of them that remain, that is—are starved for product. We’d love it if the Swift Sport made it to our shores, but admit that a micro-bomber like it isn’t likely to contribute much in to the brand’s sales numbers.

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