The Tokyo Motor Show is still kicking on. It will be open to the public until November 4, but the media is well and truly done with it. Now that all the manufacturers have played their hands, and the shit (in some cases) has had time to settle after hitting the fan, it seemed like a good time to sit back and take stock on what eventuated from the 41st Tokyo Motor Show. More »
I’m sitting at AMLUX in Tokyo watching Toyota demonstrate the i-REAL personal mobility vehicle. Currently there is a Japanese women tearing around the room in one of these things. That’s right, she’s tearing it up. For those that used to compare the i-REAL to the Segway, consider the comparison dead. The i-REAL looks cooler and goes faster. And you sit in it rather than stand. More »
That would be me signing off from the Tokyo Motor Show and Japan. I’ll be hopping on a flight to Sydney in a few hours time. Hope you all enjoyed the coverage of what was certainly a pretty damn cool motor show. Before I go though be sure to do two things.
1) Check out the news of the new Toyota FT-EV II here at SMH.com.au. I didn’t have enough time to write this up with the rest of the stories but it is certainly a great car and a good look at the future and Toby Hagon, who was on this trip with us thanks to Toyota, did a rather good write up as per usual. More »
Did you know that Japan has more vending machines than any other country in the world? I could be making that up but I’m sure I read it somewhere. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong – I do make a lot of things up. Anyway, on my royal tour of Japan promoting green energy, publicising poverty and celebrating my recent win in the Brazilian Grand Prix for Red Bull Racing I saw this. Now call me crazy, but THIS is crazy (and perhaps taking the idea of the vending machine one step too far)!
Damian Francis is the editor-at-large for Australian T3 and contributing technology editor for GQ Australia. He is in Japan as a guest of Toyota Australia.
What to say? Really, what to say! It’s called the Basket and we think that’s quite appropriate. It comes with swivel seats though and can be completely customised. The three cylinder 12 valve DOHC engine won’t get you too far though. It’s 660cc but on the plus side it’s 4WD. Because we can imagine you’ll need that in the Basket – what with all the off roading to apple farms you will be doing. While it does sound rather odd at least the models were into it! More »
Not only did Lexus unveil its road going version of the LF-A supercar at the Tokyo Motor Show, it also had the race version and it looked like it was fresh off the race track. Take a look at the mud spots and gaffer tape! Unfortunately there was no way in hell that they would let me take it for a spin but some lucky British chap from Autocar in the UK did and the video is totally worth checking out. Enjoy the video after the jump. More »
While most of the cars on show at the Tokyo Motor Show are high performance cars (this will change when it opens to the public soon), Toyota still chose to show off its Plug-In Hybrid Prius. While it’s not completely electric it’s certainly another step in the right direction in terms of moving towards full electric vehicles. More »
OK, so it’s technically not a Liberty. This is a Legacy. Which is pretty much the Japanese version of the Liberty, the refreshed Liberty model we have in Australia. But while we toddle around in the suave Subaru family car down the Pacific Highway, the Japanese have decided to show us all what a Legacy really can do. More »
Forget about your Pimp My Ride vehicles. That’s nothing compared to the pimping that Mani D’oro does. If you have never heard of them, join the club. I can’t really give you much information on them either really as it was all in Japanese and all its reps only spoke Japanese. More »
