Full Throttle

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Fuel throttle: Tokyo motor show Petrol power made a comeback at the 2009 Tokyo motor show, write RICHARD BLACKBURN and TOBY HAGON.

The nation that started the hybrid and electric car craze was back spruiking petrol at this year’s Tokyo motor show.

Petrol-powered sports cars and ultra-efficient conventional engines were the order of the day at a distinctly subdued Tokyo show, which was minus every major overseas brand thanks to the global economic downturn.

Only specialist sports car maker Lotus broke the Japanese stranglehold on what is usually one of the world’s most influential motor shows.

Toyota, the world’s largest car maker and the brand that ignited the hybrid phenomenon, showed off two new sports cars, including a Ferrari-rivalling V10 from luxury arm Lexus, while Mazda’s boss told media that, in the short term, more could be done to save the planet through petrol engines than hybrids.

The mood contrasted with last month’s Frankfurt motor show, where European manufacturers, which have traditionally heaped scorn on hybrids and electric cars, were tripping over themselves to join the electric revolution.

In a sign of the times Mercedes-Benz and Audi have recently confirmed they will build electric supercars.

Japan’s car makers are still hot on the electric trail, but there is an increasing realisation that there is no silver bullet for solving the industry’s energy needs.

Some Japanese manufacturers, including Mazda and Subaru, remain unconvinced that electric cars are the best way to combat global warming in the short term, while Toyota says battery power doesn’t make sense in sports cars.

At the unveiling of two new ultra-efficient petrol and diesel engines, the president of Mazda, Takashi Yamanouchi, says Mazda would be able to cut its vehicle emissions by a third over the next five years without a hybrid or electric vehicle in its line-up.

In a veiled swipe at the hype surrounding hybrid and electric vehicles, Yamanouchi told media the company could have a greater and more immediate impact on global warming by developing traditional petrol and diesel engines that offered fuel savings on all its cars.

"Mazda will first work to enhance its base technology. We feel that by doing this we will be able to offer better fuel efficiency to everyone, not just to selected customers," he said.

He says hybrid vehicles made up just 2 per cent of the world's fleet. "The remaining 98 per cent is the market we want to focus on for now. When the market changes we will be there to follow those changes. We do have electric vehicle technology.”

But he says the cost of batteries, the limited range of electric vehicles and the lack of infrastructure would mean that conventional internal combustion engines would continue to play a major role for years to come.

Despite Mitsubishi and Nissan saying regular household powerpoints could meet most EV recharging needs, Yamanouchi says electric cars would only become popular if governments and buyers were prepared to “foot the bill” for expensive infrastructure and sophisticated technology.

He says electric cars would cost more than double the price of a traditional vehicle. "EVs will never replace all forms of transportation. They will be limited to congested areas," he says.

But despite his scepticism about electric vehicles and hybrids, Yamanouchi says the company would look to introduce a hybrid vehicle in the "early part of the next decade" and an electric or hydrogen-powered zero-emission vehicle in the mid-term.

"We want to ensure that we respond effectively as we can when the public demand trend slowly shifts (to hybrids)."

Meanwhile, the man who developed Toyota’s latest electric car, FT-EV II, says electric technology didn’t lend itself to sports cars.

“It’s technically quite possible to for us to develop an EV sports type vehicle,” says Akihiro Yanaka, Toyota’s project manager for advanced vehicles.

“We have the electric motor and battery and we know how to apply those. However … there is huge energy consumption. While car makers are rushing to develop more efficient batteries that can store more energy, Yanaka points to the expensive, heavy, space-sucking batteries available today that are a major shortfall for the development of viable electric sports cars.

“If we fill up the car with batteries without any luggage compartment, without the rear seats, you might be able to achieve the performance but probably no one would buy that car,” he says.

Toyota subsidiary Daihatsu also bucked the electric trend with a controversial sales pitch that suggested conventional-engined cars could be kinder to the environment than vehicles that used “precious metals” in their production phase.

The maker’s press material declared that its new e:S, which is powered by a three-cylinder petrol engine, “sets high standards of eco-friendliness from production to scrapping through the improvement of conventional technology.”

Nissan, too, made a point of considering the whole-of-life environmental credentials of its upcoming Leaf electric car, which is planned to go on sale in 2012. “(We’re looking at a) brand new business model to re-use, re-sell and recycle batteries,” says the boss of the Renault-Nissan alliance, Carlos Ghosn.

He says old batteries which would retain “70 to 80 per cent” of their effectiveness once finished their life in the car could be used as back-up power for buildings and other applications where weight wasn’t as much of an issue.

Like Mitsubishi, which already has an electric car on sale in Japan, Nissan is racing to cement itself as a leader in electric vehicles.

“The race for zero emissions has begun,” said Ghosn. “We are preparing to meet the environmental challenge.”

Daihatsu president, Teruyuki Minoura, told the media that lightweight materials and low cost, fuel-efficient petrol-powered small cars were the best immediate solution to dwindling oil reserves and global warming.

“When we calculate CO2 emissions it has to be from production to disposal,” he said.

The maker says it will reduce its vehicle emissions by introducing a two-cylinder turbocharged, direct injection petrol engine that offers a 30 per cent improvement on its current engines.

In the long term, it plans to jump from petrol power straight to “precious metal-free” fuel-cell technology, skipping hybrids and plug-in electric vehicles.

Conventional fuel cells have used precious metals including platinum as catalysts for energy regeneration, which makes them prohibitively expensive.

The Daihatsu technology replaces platinum with more abundant metals such as nickel and cobalt. Toyota also says reducing weight of vehicles is a priority that must be fast tracked in the race to zero emissions mobility.

“Along with downsizing weight reduction is also very important,” says Toyota’s project general manager of research and development, Yutaka Matsumoto.

“We believe wide ranging cost reductions are needed so that common cars can feature advanced weight reducing technologies such as carbon fibre bodies.”

While there are some doubters, other Japanese manufacturers are either pushing ahead with advanced plug-in electric plans or embracing hybrid or EV technology they previously spurned. Nissan and Mitsubishi both displayed versions of their Leaf and i-MiEV electric vehicles, while Honda and Subaru displayed hybrid concepts and Suzuki showed off a plug-in version of the Swift small car.

Drive looks at some of the highlights of a subdued Tokyo motor show.


Toyota


It’s not often you hear the boss of the typically conservative Toyota use phrases like “how cool” and the “net generation” as well as things such as the “flavour of an automobile”.

Such is life under the leadership of new president Akio Toyoda, who used Tokyo to inject some excitement into the brand. Still, Toyota used the Tokyo show to cement its green reputation earned from selling more than half the world’s two million-plus hybrid cars.

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As well as a plug-in hybrid version of the Prius – which predominantly uses electricity and can be recharged – the company took the wraps off its futuristic electric car, FT-EV II.

The tiny four seater is gazing way in to the future with plane-like controls and an open cabin created courtesy of careful placement of the electric motor and batteries.

Toyota also confirmed it will begin leasing plug-in hybrid vehicles within months as part of an ambitious plan to branch out in to electric vehicles that can be recharged from household powerpoints.

Toyota said 500 plug-in Priuses would be leased throughout Japan, Europe and the US with the view to monitoring the vehicles in everyday use and gauging feedback from drivers.

However, it was the FT-86 sports car that was the hero of the Toyota display. One half of the ‘Toyobaru’ – it was developed in conjunction with Subaru, which will also build a version – the FT-86 uses a conventional petrol engine and various lightweight materials to revive the character of Toyota sports cars of the past.

“It is often said that young people have drifted away from cars, but I feel that it may not be the customers who have drifted away from cars but us, the manufacturers,” said Toyota president Akio Toyoda, a driving enthusiast who is clearly determined to inject some passion in to the conservative Toyota line up.

“I believe it is the mission of auto makers to provide the fundamental excitement of automobiles to customers, regardless of the era. The FT-86 concept was developed to give form to the intrinsic joy automobiles provide.”

Lexus

When the luxury brand of the world’s most prolific hybrid car maker reverts to good ol’ fashioned big-engined performance for its Tokyo showstopper, you know there’s change in the air. As the global financial crisis thaws and car makers regain confidence in building sports cars, Lexus took the opportunity to show that after only 20 years it’s ready to fight the supercar war with a car that will cost well over $500,000.

The LF-A is the fastest, most expensive, most expensive and most exclusive Japanese car ever built. The Lexus LF-A has a 4.8-litre V10 producing a supercar-like 412kW of power, which is enough to propel the two-seater to 100km/h to 100km/h in just 3.7 seconds.

Top speed is 325km/h. No punches have been pulled with the styling, either, which is more headturning than the name thanks to side air intakes, a triple exhaust set up and classic wedgy shape.

The LF-A is not about sales – just five will be sold in Australia – but cementing the Japanese brand as a true supercar contender.

"We've been accused of being non emotional (as a brand). You'll see emotion is all over it,” says Lexus Australia boss John Roca.

"The LF-A is the halo over the brand. It has technology that will flow down through the range. It shows that not only can you build the world's best luxury saloon but you can build a supercar."

Daihatsu

The brand with a reputation for quirkiness didn't disappoint this year. Star of the stand was the Deca Deca.


It looks like a bread van, but it's a workstation on wheels, with a retractable desk for two people in the rear, complete with high-resolution 36-inch flat-screen monitor and two seats that look like office chairs.


The passenger side front seat can also swivel to face the rear, allowing people to have a mini boardroom conference, complete with powerpoint presentation.


On weekends, the Deca Deca’s huge barn-style side doors and low floor transform it into a modern day Kombi van, with room for stowing dirt bikes and surf boards. The Deca Deca wasn’t the only quirky concept on the stand.


The aptly-named Basket looks like an oversized handbag, with the windscreen and side pillars looking like a pair of giant handles. The Basket is part compact car, part ute and part convertible.


It has four seats, but the two rear seats are foldable and have steel backs, creating a load area that looks the same as any one-tonne ute.


With the canvas roof off, the Basket looks like a mini one-tonner, with it on the car looks like a Mini Moke.


Mazda


On the surface it appeared as if Mazda was doing its bit for the environment by recycling concept vehicles.


The Kiyora concept was first shown at the 2008 Paris motor show. But while the original was just a design study, this version has a working engine and fuel-saving technology that is likely to appear on the next generation of the popular Mazda2 city car.


The 1.3-litre direct injection petrol engine, which will appear in production form in 2011, will use just 3.2 litres of fuel per 100km, 20 per cent less than the current petrol-electric Prius.


It achieves the figure with a range of fuel-saving technologies, including stop-start, which shuts down the engine when the car is sitting in traffic, and regenerative braking, which recovers kinetic energy from the car as it slows down and feeds it back into the battery.


Lightweight materials will help fuel efficiency by slashing 100kg off the weight of the current Mazda2, while a super-efficient automatic transmission delivers another 5 per cent fuel saving. Mazda says it is committed to reducing the fuel consumption of its petrol and diesel engines by 30 per cent in the next five years.


The company also showed off a hydrogen-electric people-mover.


Subaru


The big story of the Subaru stand was what was missing.

As Toyota showed off the first fruits of its financial investment in Subaru through the FT-86 sports car, the Subaru version of the joint venture, dubbed the “Toyobaru”, was nowhere to be seen.


Subaru Australia managing director Nick Senior says it’s unlikely to make its way down under, either. He says the boxer-engined two-seat coupe won’t come to Australia unless it’s available in all-wheel-drive.


"There are elements of that car (FT-86) that don't fit with our Subaru DNA in Australia," Senior said. “At the moment I would say we are unlikely to see it as a Subaru.” We’re also not going to see the star of Subaru’s Tokyo stand, the gullwing Hybrid Tourer Concept, in production form, although some of the technology will filter into Subaru road cars.


The car has a direct-injection 2.0-litre boxer petrol engine, a hybrid two-motor, all-wheel drive system and lithium-ion battery pack.


Suzuki


A plug-in hybrid version of Suzuki’s popular Swift small car took centre stage at the show. The plug-in Swift uses similar technology to the much-hyped Chevrolet Volt, with the wheels driven by an electric motor.


Over short distances of up to 20km, the electric motor is powered by lithium ion batteries, which can be recharged using a regular household powerpoint. When the batteries run low, a petrol engine driven generator takes over until battery power is sufficient to run the car again.


Suzuki also has a fuel-cell version of its SX4 soft-roader that uses a fuel cell fed by a hydrogen tank and can reach speeds up to 150km/h. It has a claimed driving range of 250 kilometres and Suzuki has been trialling vehicles on Japanese roads since last year.


The other exhibit of note was the Suzuki Kizashi, a mid-sized Toyota Camry competitor that launches soon in the United States and should make its way to Australia next year.


Nissan


Two years ago the star of the Tokyo motor show was the born again GT-R, which brought Porsche-beating performance at half the price.


Fast forward to 2009, though, and Nissan played the zero emissions game by showing off its Leaf hatchback electric vehicle that will go on sale here in 2012.


Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn took the electric car message a step further with news its luxury arm, Infiniti, would soon build an electric car. He also said Nissan was looking at ways to re-use batteries from its upcoming electric car as it considers the overall environmental impact of its vehicles.


Ghosn said the latest lithium-ion batteries would retain “70 or 80 per cent” of their capacity after a 10-odd-year life, making them useful as back-up batteries for buildings, among other applications.


“(We’re looking at a) brand new business model to re-use, re-sell and recycle batteries,” said Ghosn. “The race for zero emissions has begun,” said Ghosn. “We are preparing to meet the environmental challenge.”


Mitsubishi


Set to become the first maker to sell an electric-only car it was no surprise Mitsubishi stuck to its environmental guns with its first serious venture in to hybrid passenger vehicles.


Even then, though, the brand added a petrol engine to the off-road version of the i-MiEV – it’s called the PX-MiEV as a means of extending the driving range.


Mitsubishi says its Plug-In Hybrid System – which relies predominantly on electric power for propulsion - delivers "super-low fuel consumption figures" better than 2.0L/100km. In low to medium speeds the PX-Miev runs in all-electric mode, when current runs low the petrol engine acts as a generator to supply the electric motors with power.


At higher speeds the petrol engine adds motive power. While it is unclear whether the PX Miev will see production in anything like its current form, its petrol-electric all-wheel-drive system is set to appear in 2013.


Its drivetrain is also set to form the basis for the next generation of the rally-bred Lancer Evolution series. Arguably the most interesting part of the PX-MiEV, though, is its innovative seat material that breaks down “offensive odours”.





Fuel throttle: Tokyo motor show