Downsizing News from Japan: Toyota, Subaru and Honda Go Turbo

Toyota, which currently sells no turbocharged petrol engines in any of its vehicles, has used the 2013 Tokyo motor show as the venue of choice to reveal its plans for future use of downsized and turbocharged powerplants, with displacements ranging from 1.0- to 1.5-liter.

A larger 2.0-liter was revealed first, under the bonnet of the Lexus LF-NX, but according to Satoshi Ogiso, managing officer in charge of alternative vehicles, powertrains and chassis development, "in the near future we will use downsized turbochargers, also in the Toyota lineup."

While Toyota has not had a turbocharged engine in its range for years, Subaru is in more familiar territory here; however, it had not tried downsizing yet for its mainstream, non-sport models.

Now it has, with the 1.6-liter direct-injected unit that powers the newly-revealed (and awkwardly-named) Levrog wagon/estate. It promises better fuel efficiency than the 2.0-liter engine they use, yet provide as much oomph as the larger 2.5-liter, if we are to believe to Naoto Muto, executive vice president for global engineering.

Muto also told Autonews that they might follow GM’s example of replacing a (3.5-liter) V6 engine with a smaller 2.5-liter unit, explaining that they “are considering the same."

Honda also chose to announce its new range of downsized and turbocharged petrol engines early, ahead of the Tokyo show. The most powerful of these is the one that is to be used to power the new Civic Type-R hatch that could make close to 300 hp; there will be smaller units too, of course.

By Andrei Nedelea

Story References: Autonews

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Kawasaki Shows Off Shape-Shifting Three-Wheeler EV Concept in Tokyo [w/Video]

Real vehicles that don’t only reside in the world of 3D generated and rendered models don’t come any more futuristic-looking than this, the Kawasaki J concept, shown at the Tokyo Motor Show.

Calling it a three-wheeler EV is an understatement, because it not only looks like it’s from 2025, but it’s also a shape-shifter with two wheels at the front and one wider one at the back.

The front fork can pivot between a low-slung high-speed position to a more upright stance that is designed for low-speed riding (driving?) with improved maneuverability characteristics.

The unorthodox approach to its design is continued to the way you control it. There are no handlebars or a steering wheel in sight, and you steer it by turning two individual handles that in turn angle the wheels to change direction.

Like we said in regards to the Nissan IDx Freeflow concepts, if this is the manufacturer’s idea of the future, then we’re really interested and want to see more. Check out the photo gallery and the video (courtesy of Reuters) below to see what we’re on about here.

By Andrei Nedelea

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The Future Tech-Focused 2013 Tokyo Motor Show in 400 Photos

The Tokyo motor show has given away all it has to display in the year of 2013. It’s been an interesting event packed with lots of concepts many of which previewed some sort of futuristic solution of getting around in as green a fashion as possible.

Eco-concepts aside, there were some real cars shown for the first time too, like the Lexus RC, VW Twin Up! and NISMO GT-R, but it’s really the former that stole the show.

Want more? Just take the Nissan IDx Freeflow and BladeGlider, or Lexus’ LF-NX with a turbo engine, and even Ken Okuyama’s two models, one of which is a tractor.

However, we won’t be the ones telling you which ones we thought are the coolest, as we would rather ask for your opinion.

So, which of the premieres did you love, which did you hate and were there any that didn’t live up to expectations or turned out to be below par? The comments section is the place where you can share after you check out the photo gallery below.

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