Son of Prius? - October 28th, 2007
Lots of concepts coming out of the Tokyo Motor Show this year, including an intriguing offering from Toyota dubbed the 1/X. Apparently this is the future of the Prius line, promising twice the fuel efficiency up to a lovely 92 mpg.
Alot of that high performance is due to weight loss. The 1/X is trimmer than the Prius by a third, coming in at 926 lbs. Toyota has brought in a lot of plastic reinforced with carbon fiber on top of an aluminum body.
You get the same hybrid-gas system as the Prius but with an option to plug-in. That’s what I like to see and it’s going to play well with people who have a lot of short distance, around town driving to do. This is, of course, assuming the 1/X hits the streets, but if it really is intended to be the Son of Prius, those chances are better than most concepts face.
One thing does give pause however. It costs a whole lot more to make carbon fibre than steel. We’re not likely to see the 1/X on the road until the use of the new material becomes common enough to drive down production costs.
Looks wise, this one is a lot less out there than some of the other concepts on display in Tokyo. Overall it retains a fairly familiar sedan outline, but with panoramic windows and what appears to be an illuminated front grill that reminds me a little bit of a bank of stadium lights. One good thing about first looks like this — they generally get toned down a bit before the consumer ever sees them. Personally I’d love to drive some of the funkiness coming out of concept land but the automakers are going to go where the most dollars lie, which means we still drive cars that look entirely too much alike in my humble opinion.
Posted on October 28th, 2007 by Shorty
Filed under: technology, alternative fuels, first look |
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