Gloom in Japan

AFTERMATH : TOKYO MOTOR SHOW

This year's Tokyo Motor Show is feeling the effects of the global economic crisis as the number of novelties and the amount of exhibition space has shrunk for the first time in 20 years.

Now in its 41st iteration, Asia's foremost car show is attempting to reel off the impact with eco-friendly cars deemed necessary for the next decade when CO2 legislation becomes even more stringent.

The show, which started last week and ends on Nov 4, is basically an all-Japanese exhibition as all major Western carmakers chose to abstain. Korean giant Hyundai made a last-minute cancellation.

Due to the need to cut down on costs, the number of new cars and technologies has been kept to a minimum, while show pretties - attention-grabbers but costly frills - were shunned altogether from Tokyo this year.

Kawasaki is the only home-grown brand not to participate, while Suzuki and Honda cram their two-wheelers next to cars at their display areas.

Due to the absence of non-Japanese makes (only specialists Alpina, Caterham and Lotus are present), the amount of exhibition space for cars was down by half, their place taken up by parts suppliers.

While virtually all Japanese companies talked about environment-friendly vehicles - just as the West did at Frankfurt motor show last month - Lexus had the honour of unveiling the show's only supercar powered by a 4.8-litre V10 engine.

Lexus sources told Motoring that there will be official sales of the car in the Southeast Asian region. With taxes, the LFA would cost over B50m in Thailand. The high price is attributed to a limited production of 500 units to be made for a year starting late 2010.

The LFA, which is the market-ready version of the long-standing LF-A Concept, was obviously the highlight for car-lovers, even though it was nestled in a small corner of the Lexus stand (see pages M2-M3 for the first drive report).

Toyota, which owns Lexus, is also trying to please enthusiasts with lighter wallets by showing a prototype of a new compact coupe'. The FT-86, due to hit showrooms by 2011, will be jointly developed with Subaru.

Despite their collaboration already made public, Subaru hasn't revealed a concept car in the FT-86's guise. Instead, it chose to highlight a petrol/electric hybrid powertrain that's speculated to see the light of the day in the rumoured Legacy Hybrid.

Subaru also broke away from tradition by unveiling its motorsport intentions and joining the GT racing circuit. Now that it has withdrawn from World Rally, it is promoting a racecar version of this year's new Legacy B4 saloon.

Honda is rebutting the image-building cars of its archrival Toyota by unveiling a near-production version of the CR-Z baby coupe' - dubbed the world's first sports car with hybrid drivetrain - which goes on sale next February.

The EV-N is another important experimental car with pure electric power slated to replace the EV Plus and act as a rival for Toyota's FT-EVII, an all-electric car based on the iQ minicar.

Honda bosses pledged emphasis on small cars with low-polluting engines instead of cars with halo effect as at the booths of Toyota and Lexus.

A replacement for the iconic NSX supercar that would be the answer to the LFA has been ruled out for the time being, while Honda's global drive upmarket with the Acura nameplate has been put on ice.

Nissan, the other notable Big Three player of Japan, is embarking on an electric car frenzy by showing to the public for the first time the Leaf, the world's first series production car draining power exclusively from the socket.

It is being joined by the Land Glider, also powered with just batteries packed into a compact two-seat package which Nissan says is the future of zero-emission mobility. The packaging concept is similar to Volkswagen's L1 Concept shown in Frankfurt.

After making a splash with a lightweight concept of the MX-5 at the German motor show, Mazda is obviously short on cash for the Japanese edition. It dusted off the Kiroya concept car from the R&D bin, after it was shown for the first time in Paris a year go.

However, Mazda emphasised that current technology still has room for improvement and decided to highlight a new efficient automatic transmission, plus petrol and diesel engines featuring the latest in direct injection technologies.

After finding success with the i-MiEV electric car project, Mitsubishi is now looking into offering a plug-in electric SUV that can rely on conventional petrol engine as a back-up to help extend the touring range to places not connected by electricity grid.

To help make the plug-in electric/petrol system viable, Mitsubishi is speculated to lend the know-how to Citroen and Peugeot - just as it did with the its i-MiEV - but this time into the C-Crosser and 4007 SUVs.

In return, the French could be supplying a diesel/electric hybrid once development starts by 2011. Like many other Japanese makes, Mitsubishi still finds diesel engines expensive to make on its own.

Diminutive players Daihatsu and Suzuki - usually known for showing radical, whacky concept cars - chose to refrain and follow convention at this year's show.

Daihatsu's eS hits home the message that today's models can go on diet. With weight kept down to less than 800kg, the eS can attain 30kpl with a 660cc three-cylinder petrol engine in a B-sized package.

Suzuki is set to join the hybrid race with the Swift B-segment hatchback. Honda earlier announced this year that there will be a Jazz Hybrid, although nothing even alluding to it was on view in Tokyo.

Motorcycles are also embarking on an eco-drive that sees electric scooters taking centre stage, meaning that bike nuts looking for machines with excessive performance are in for a disappointment.

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VIEWPOINT

It's not surprising to see everyone scrambling for high-tech engines. But it's a breath of fresh air to see that some makers like Mazda and Daihatsu are talking about simpler and more practical solutions like reducing weight and improving existing technologies.

Cars nowadays fail to stop growing in size and weight, so it's about time to talk about downsized packages and engines and a cutback of unnecessary luxuries that so many makers use to lure buyers into showrooms.

While blabbing about electric cars is fashionable and makes carmakers look modern and responsible (like Nissan did at its stand), they're still some way off.

You may ask about the glitzy LFA supercar from Lexus which is the non-greenest car to be launched at the show. Sure, it looks great and refreshingly different from Lambos and Fezzas.

But the V10 petrol power isn't exactly news; nor is the somewhat unfancy robotised manual gearbox. Okay, limited production means exclusive price of over B50m on Thai soil.

But what of the Nissan GT-R that oozes more tech, performs similarly and costs a fourth of the LFA? Yup, you've got it.

RICHARD LEU

The East to West Halls at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show failed to ignite the boiling stew of human emotions and life which normally explodes from the multitude of automobile booths at such events.

To tag the event as a shadow of its normal self would be an injustice to Japanese automakers and their European counterparts... which comprised of Alpina (BMW tuning arm), Lotus and Caterham.

Surprisingly enough, the lamp of tradition shone on a booth featuring Car of The Year marques dating back to the '80s.

Honda combined its CR-Z Concept 2009 hybrid proposal, VFR1200F sports touring motorcycle world premiere and ENEPO generator to occupy the largest space at the event, along with many guises of electric-powered cars from Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and Mitsubishi - called by many names but driven in the same language, so to speak.

Yet it's clear that a genuine effort by automotive powerhouses is needed to address global warming issues. I was wearing a T-shirt at the Tokyo Motor Show and you are not supposed to be able to do that at this time of the year.

ALFRED THA HLA

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