Toyota aims for better, more fun cars
Baseball star Ichiro Suzuki takes stage to show firm is stepping up to the plate with responsibility and accountability
TOKYO— Toyota brought baseball star Ichiro Suzuki onto the stage here to stress that it’s stepping up to the plate with its responsibility to always build better cars.
The three concept vehicles that shared space with Ichiro, now of the Miami Marlins, and Toyota Motor Corp. president Akio Toyoda, were almost secondary to the company’s message.
“Once we’ve stepped up to the plate, regardless of what happens, we have to take full responsibility without making excuses,” said Toyoda.
“Here’s Toyota’s promise, written in stone: we will keep making better cars, and we will make mobility more fun than ever.”
Toyoda’s comments were backed with the auto company’s slogan, “What wows you?” but they could easily have referred to the recent Volkswagen revelations of emissions test cheating, as well as the unprecedented safety recall of airbags across the industry.
Toyoda wanted to clear the air of the public’s general mistrust and move on with introducing new vehicles that, he hopes, will wow drivers.
Pride of place went to the new fourth-generation Prius, shown here for the first time after its debuts in Las Vegas and the Frankfurt auto show. It was flanked, however, by two concepts: the S-FR and the CHR.
The S-FR is a compact sports coupe intended as competition for the Mazda MX-5 roadster. It’s powered by a retuned version of the 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine found in the Japanese-market Corolla. It makes only 128 hp, but weighs just 980 kg. It will probably go into production, but it’s unlikely to come to Canada.
The C-HR is a much more likely prospect for Canadian drivers. It’s a compact hybrid crossover that’s been evolving since first seen as a design study at the 2014 Paris auto show.
It will use a smaller and lighter power plant, and be more responsive to driver handling. A production-ready model should be ready for the Geneva auto show next spring.
On a separate stage, the FCV Plus is a fuel-cell-powered concept car that takes its capability a step further: it’s able to double as a source of power for the home when not being driven. The car can generate electricity from both its own hydrogen and from a separate hydrogen supply.
Japan is keenly aware of the need for independent electric generators after the 2011 meltdown of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Toyota shipped Priuses to the affected area then to act as generators, but the FCV Plus is also seen as a source of power that can be plugged directly into the grid to help supply whole communities.
Earlier in the afternoon, Toyota’s premium brand Lexus revealed a fuel-cell-powered edition of its fullsize LS flagship sedan, but that’s also still just a concept while hydrogen is limited in supply.
The company is pushing government and suppliers to co-ordinate in bringing a better hydrogen supply to market, available at convenient service centres like gasoline.
Toyota’s hydrogen-powered Mirai sedan goes on sale in California later this year, and it’s the first fuel-cell vehicle from any manufacturer to be sold outright, not leased.
Finally, on yet another stage, Toyota debuted the Kikai, a small 1+2 coupe design concept. Its machinery is open to display, and it’s supposed to add some wow factor to driving. It certainly would if it ever made it off the drawing board and onto the street. Freelance writer Mark Richardson is a regular contributor to Toronto Star Wheels. For the Tokyo Motor Show, he was a guest of Toyota. To reach him, email wheels@thestar.ca and put his name in the subject line.