Suzuki Cuteness Overload

More from the 2005 Tokyo show. This year Suzuki is displaying 4 concepts, 3 of which are sickeningly cute.

First up, the a micro-wagon type vehicle, named the "Suzuki Mom's Personal Transport". Such an innovative name. So unnecessarily long, unnecessarily descriptive, and unnecessarily offensize to feminists. Also - speaking of unnecessarily offensize to feminists - notice the cheeseburger and pop in the press photos of the interior. Is that trying to say urban Mom's typically eat fast food and/or feed it to their children? Is it ok to show people that it's ok to feed fast food to your children? Was this car sponsored by McDonalds? Will there be a Suzuki Mom's Personal Tranport McDonalds Edition? If so, they should name it the Suzuki Mom's Personal Transport With Fries.

Anyway, back to the car. It isn't necessarily fugly, but that cutesy toothy smile of a grille it has going has got to go. Cars shouldn't look like cartoon characters.

Next up is another cartoon mini car that isn't quite fugly - the LC. But again, car's should be sleek and efficient - form follows fuction. This is not form follows fuction, unless the sole fuction of this car is to make Shirley Temple look like a steaming pile of dog doo. Also, I really don't like car makers who make a basic reinterpretation of car from the past solely for novelty purposes. Especially when they didn't even make it originally - this car is a ringer for a Fiat 850.

Last but not least is the least cute and most fugly of the Suzuki trio - the Ionis. It's basically a mini minivan that appears to be scowling. This may or may not be because Suzuki gave it a name that's only one letter off from Ford's big show car from a month ago - the Iosis (which was NOT fugly).

Nissan Pivo

The 2005 Tokyo Auto Show is coming, and it's stream of bizarre and useless vehicles is already being unveiled.

This concept from Nissan may appear to be an egg timer on wheels, but it's actually a car. Besides being fugly, it promises "an innovative cabin that revolves 360 degrees, eliminating the need to reverse" - the logistics of which are mind-boogling. Just because the cabin can rotate doesn't mean that you still don't have to put the car into motion using a gear that propels the car in the opposite direction. And if the engine is stationary, you'd need multiple gears for each direction (unlike the typical 5 forward gears and one reverse). Unless the engine and drivetrain somehow detach with the cabin and rotate with it, reattaching in the opposite direction (which seems needlessly complicated). So far I've found no information on how this is done.

And if you thought the car itself was trippy enough, just look at their anime style promotional material. Super fun happy car.


* Sidenote - I just realized this looks exactly like an egg timer on wheels. It even has the timing measurements on the bottom of the cab!

Attack of the Clones: Subaraab?

In an odd case of role reversal, Subaru is now stealing Saab designs.

The new Subaru B5-TPH hybrid concept to be introduced at the upcoming 2005 Tokyo auto show bears a remarkable resemblance the the Saab 9-X concept from a few years back. While it's face is in majority different (although Subaru's new nose is vaguely Saab-ish), the roofline and side profile are shockingly similar. This is especially visible from the rear 3/4 view.