The R.D:B.X... as in Round Box. Could this be a hint of what will replace the (currently) JDM only Nissan Cube? Japan's youth, who are already way too cool for the current model, let alone the Toyota Bb (Scion XB), should certainly hope so.
Check out that amazing interior, complete with a totally digital dash, in our high-res gallery of live shots below.
click above image to view more high-res pics of the Subaru EXIGA Concept
Subaru has been promising a seven seater for years, but have yet to deliver one to their own home market as the Tribeca isn't sold this side of Pacific. A couple of years ago it was leaning towards a minivan-style MPV, but for this year's show they have chosen to throw a couple of seats in the back of Japan's best selling station wagon, the Legacy, to make the EXIGA Concept.
The designers had a lot of fun inside and out. Enjoy the pics in the gallery below.
Mitsubishi's has given its cute and funky 'i' minicar a sporty makeover with a coupe-like shape and vents on the side to create the i MIEV Sport. Despite being the sports version, it uses the same electric plug-in technology found in the i MIEV, which means two in-wheel motors driving the front wheels, and one motor for the rear. The cab-forward design does make it look like a bubble car, but having navigated Tokyo's streets for the last few days we can totally see it fitting right in.
Remember the Suzuki Samurai, the lightweight 4x4 much maligned for being just as likely to topple over as any other Jeep of its day? Well, it's alive and well and being sold throughout the world as the Jimny. The X-Head just might be its future and we can only hope that Suzuki's notoriously tight bean counters do not savage the functional yet oh so cool interior too badly. Who knows, they may even bring it Stateside. Yeah, right.
Check out our original post on the Suzuki X-Head here and view live pics from last week's Tokyo Motor Show in the gallery below.
There's more than a hint of Toyota's PM, i-Swing and i-REAL series about this concept. But where Toyota admits that the driver may occasionally want to get out of the pod, Suzuki sees no reason for such extravagant use of your legs when operating the PIXY. Leaving the city for a blast down the highway? Just drive your PIXY in to your SSC mothership. Want to go for a thrash though the mountains? Park up in your SSF sports-car unit. There's even a speed boat (SSJ) on the cards, not that you'd be able to smell the sea breeze. Both the PIXY and SSC appear to be hermatically sealed and were unbearably hot under the stage lights. Ideal transportation for a post nuclear war world perhaps?
Following the debut of the first Kizashi concept in Frankfurt, the folks at Suzuki's design studios have butched up the concept even more. Check out the Ben Hur/James Bond tire-chewing alloys. Though there may be plans afoot for the Kizashi to see production, those wheels are not included among them.
We missed the Daihatsu HSC at Frankfurt somehow, but stumbled across the little concept in Tokyo. Its "catamaran-like underbody", a CD value of 0.28, and idling stop function coupled to an advanced CVT all adds up to 60 mpg. Check out those mirrors and the funky interior, too. Looking around the stand here in Tokyo, it strikes us that a lack of B pillars and A pillars that flow into the headlights may well become Daihatsu trademarks over the coming years.
So balance has been restored to the kei car market then? Nope. Daihatsu has upped the ante by removing the B-pillar from the Tanto (shown at right), creating a mammoth hole through which struggling toddlers can be passed. The ball is back in your court Suzuki.
