Trezia STi & Legacy tS concepts at 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon

So, those are some photos of the Trezia STi concept and Legact tS concept presented at the 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon. 

More photos after the jump!

New Suzuki MR Wagon shown at 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon

The new Suzuki MR Wagon (earlier post), which will be officially launched on January 20, was shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon.

Nissan presents GT-R RC and LEAF Aero Style Concept at 2011 Tokyo Auto Salon

As already posted in the past, Nissan has presented a number of concepts at the Tokyo Auto Salon, with the most interesting one being the LEAF Aero Style Concept. Oh, I do like a lot the Elgrand Rider Premium Concept as well... and the lady at the front!

The LEAF Aero Style Concept is fitted with aero parts providing better seperation of air flow and thus improving the flow from the front to the side. To be honest, I would really like to see the aero bits of the LEAF to hit the market! 

Nissan has also launched the NISMO GT-R RC production model race car.

The NISMO GT-R RC is the latest entry to the RC (Racing Competition) line of high performance, production model race cars developed and outfitted by NISMO. The body has been lightened, fitted with slick tires and equipped with safety equipment to ready it for competition use. During the car's development, it was entered in the 2010 SUPER TAIKYU Round 4 at Fuji, where it confirmed its high performance, reliability and durability.

The car runs on a VR38DETT engine that exceeds 357 kw /485 ps in power with over 588 Nm / 60 kgm of torque. To trim body weight, carbon fiber is used for the bumper, hood, trunk lid & rear wing, and the rear window is made of acrylic. Specialized aeroparts boost aerodynamic performance.

Particular attention was given to optimizing overall vehicle balance. The car was outfitted with height adjustable suspension along with large front (410mm) and rear (380 mm) brake rotors.

Safety features include an FIA standards-compliant weld-in roll cage, bucket seat & driver safety harness, fire extinguisher, ATL 120 liter safety fuel cell and air jacks, making your GT-R RC track-ready on delivery for production car races around the world.

The Nissan NISMO GT-R RC is “made to order” and will be sourced directly from NISMO. Its price is 20,790,000 ¥.

More photos after the jump!

Honda to make insulated toolkit available for EV maintenance

Honda has already announced that it will start lease sales of the EV-neo electric scooter in a few months (earlier post). Therefore, it prepares an insulated maintenance toolkit, which will be distributed to the dealers in order to carry out maintenance tasks on the EV-neo. This will ensure the safety when performing various tasks. Also, special training of the dealers will be done in order stuff to learn the basics of low voltage electric handling.

The insulated toolkit, has the surface of the metal parts covered with a film coating that doesn't allow electric charge to move, thus preventing a potential shock. Of course, the same type of measures will be taken once EV cars come out.

Lexus launches CT 200h in Japan

Lexus announced today the launch of the CT 200h in Japan, with a sales target of 1,500 units per month. Three versions will be available, the version L costing 4,300,000 ¥, the F Sport costing 4,050,000 ¥ and version C costing 3,750,000 ¥. The CT 200h is manufactured at the Miyata plant.

Mitsubishi's Solio variant to be called Delica D:2

As already reported, the new Suzuki Solio will be also available by Mitsubishi, with Suzuki supplying Mitsubishi with around 800 units per month. The Mitsubishi variant will be called Delica D:2 (デリカ Ｄ：2) and it is expected to be launched in spring 2011.

[Source: わたくしごと]

Fuel efficiency of new Honda Fit Shuttle

Those shots of the upcoming Fit Shuttle (earlier post) are from BC's latest issue and according the article, the fuel efficiency of the hybrid version will be 30.0 km/L, while the 1.5 L petrol version will achieve 20.0 km/L.

[Source: Bebop Beat]

Leaked brochure images show new Honda Fit Shuttle

Those leaked brochure images show the new Honda Fit wagon (earlier post), which will be called Fit Shuttle (フィットシャトル). As reported in the past, a hybrid version (1.3 L + IMA) will be also available.

Next Honda Fit to use more imported components in order to be more competitively priced

The new Honda Fit (aka Jazz) will be presented in 2013 (earlier post) and according to a report by Nikkan, the percentage of imported parts used in the domestic models will be increased from 17% to around 40%. This will enable a reduction of 15% in the price of the new Fit, and will enable Honda to save in total around 70 - 80 billion yen.

This is an example of manufacturer's attempt to lower their prices. In China and India, the use of components from local suppliers is nearly 100%.

Nissan Serena's A-pillar design

Not really rocket science, but in any case I think it's a neat feature. The A-pillar design of the Nissan Serena not only features triangular windows for better visibility, but also the trim on the rear side is different between the left and right side. As you can easily understand, this is in order to provide maximum visibility from the driver's side.

[Source: Response]

A glimpse of upcoming Prius V, Fit Wagon & facelifted Fairlady Z (370Z)

New BC issue will be out soon and the front cover shows three upcoming models: The new Prius V to be unveiled at Detroit this month, the upcoming Fit Wagon (earlier post) and what appears to be the facelifted Nissan Fairlady Z (aka 370Z)!

Check out my blog soon, as some very interesting material is underway straight from Japan!!!

Toyota Prius surpasses Corolla's sales record in Japan

Almost one month ago, it was reported that the last-gen Toyota Prius has sold more than 300,000 units in Japan (earlier post) and now that 2010 is over, the final number is 315,000 units (the Corolla set the record 20 years ago in 1990, selling 300,008 units)!!!

[Source: SankeiBiz; Source of photo: Fukuoka Toyota]

Suzuki to introduce more fuel-efficient engine for its JDM minicars - MR Wagon first to use it

Nikkei reported that Suzuki will introduce an all-new engine for its minicars in Japan for the first time in roughly 16 years. The new 0.66 L engine is expected to have a fuel efficiency of 27 km/L, which is 20% less than the current engine, when combined with a Stop/Start system.

This would enable Suzuki minicars to achieve a fuel economy comparable to that offered by Daihatsu’s new Move (related posts), which hit the market last month. Suzuki plans to invest a total of 20 billion yen [US$246 million] over three years to retool its Sagara factory in Shizuoka Prefecture to make the new engine.

All future versions of the company’s minicars, including the Wagon R and the Alto, will eventually be powered by the engine. The first to feature it will be the new MR Wagon, slated for launch this month.

[Source: Nikkei via Green Car Congress]

Stop/Start system's battery life is...

The adoption of a Stop/Start system is a good way in reducing the fuel consumption of a car, especially when spending a lot of time in traffic, and although it's not something new as a concept, there are a lot of design challenges. Apart from reducing the number of parts and thus the cost, as Daihatsu has done (earlier post), the durability of the system is another important factor. For example, a system like that requires a battery capable of a high number of charge/discharge cycles. So, as I was reading an article about Vitz' system (earlier post) on Response's website, I came across with an interesting fact. Toyota claims that the life of the battery used in the new Vitz is 15 years / 200,000 km.

MODELLISTA body kits for new Toyota Vitz

Following the previous post showing some MODELLISTA options for the new Vitz (aka Yaris), here are some more images showing the body kits. In total, there are three different packages, MODELLISTA for RS (モデリスタバージョン for RS); MODELLISTA I (モデリスタバージョンI) and MODELLISTA II (モデリスタバージョンII). You can visit the official webpage by clicking here.

Exterior of new Suzuki MR Wagon revealed

The exterior design of the new Suzuki MR Wagon (earlier post) has been revealed ahead of its debut, which will take place on January 20. The new MR Wagon will have a fuel efficiency of 25.5 km/L and not 26.5 as previously reported.

New Mitsuoka Viewt coming in summer 2011

Mag-X has came up with this rendering of the next-gen Mitsuoka Viewt, which will be introduced in summer 2011. For those who are not aware of the Viewt, the current model is the second generation one and it's a model based on Nissan's March (aka Micra). All generations of Viewt are inspired by Jaguar's Mark 2 design.

[Source: Mag-X via Makoto Garage Illustration]

New Suzuki Landy introduced in Japan

This is basically Suzuki's version of the new Nissan Serena (related posts), called Landy, coming almost one month after the launch of the latter.

グレード	2.0S	2.0G
駆動方式	FF	4WD
トランスミッション	CVT
全長×全幅×全高(mm)	4685×1695×1865	4685×1695×1875
ホイールベース(mm)	2860
車両重量(kg)	1600	1720
乗車定員(人)	8
エンジン種類	直4DOHC
総排気量(cc)	1997
最高出力[ｋＷ(ps)rpm]	108（147）/5600	106（144）/5600
最大トルク[N・m(kg-m)/rpm]	210（21.4）/4400	207（21.1）/4400
10･15モード燃費(km/L)	14.4
ガソリン種類／容量(L)	レギュラー／60
車両本体価格(万円)	222.075	291.9

Suzuki launches new Solio - available also by Mitsubishi

Suzuki has launched the new Solio in Japan today and there are no surprises, since a lot of brochure images have leaked in the past, which of course I have posted. I have to admit that I really like its design and it's a shame that we won't get it in Europe. Perhaps Suzuki should consider bring it over here, since the small MPV-ish segment becomes increasingly popular (e.g. Toyota Verso-S, upcoming Subaru Justy etc.) 

Suzuki claims that the new Solio is fun to drive, easy to use and with a better fuel economy. The 1.2 L engine, producing 91 hp, comes from the new Swift and it is coupled to a CVT gearbox achieving a fuel efficiency of 22.5 km/L.

Sales target is around 12,000 units per year and following an agreement between Suzuki and Mitsubishi, Suzuki will supply Mitsubishi with around 800 units per month. Mitsubishi will start selling its variant of Solio in spring 2011.

Prices start from 1,382,850 ¥ for G grade (2WD) and the next grade, called X, costs 1,509,900 ¥ (1,632,750 ¥ for the 4WD version). Top grade S costs 1,624,350 ¥ (1,747,200 ¥ for the 4WD version).

Engine idling system dates back to Starlet era

Here is another interesting piece of information. During the presentation of the new Vitz  yesterday, Chief Engineer Yamamoto Hirobumi (山本博文) mentioned that the idea of an engine idling system dates back to the Starlet (スターレット) era. Yes, you read it right. The idling technology had been tested at the time, but the time required to start the engine was about 0.7 seconds, therefore there was not much difference in time compared to just turning the ignition key. Just for the records, the new Stop / Start system (earlier post) requires just 0.35 seconds and the cost of it, in the case of the new Vitz, is 60,000 ¥.

[Source: Response]