Tokyo—The 44th staging of the Tokyo Motor Show has kicked off early this week giving its visitors a glimpse of the future of mobility. The bi-annual event now ongoing at the massive Tokyo Big Sight in Koto Ward, featurses the innovative technologies and the latest trends of 30 vehicle manufacturers from around the World and 130 allied companies such as parts suppliers and accessory makers. “The Tokyo Motor Show is a must see event to check out what’s going on with the Japanese auto industry. There will be 76 World premier launches, including 67 from the domestic market,” says Toyokazu Ishida, director general of the Tokyo Motor Show office at the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA).
This year, the highly anticipated launches during the show were those of the new Honda NSX, new Civic Type R, the S660 Kei car and the Clarity Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV). The all-new Civic Type R hits the Japanese market beginning this December across Japan. Powered by Honda’s newly developed 2.0L VTEC Turbo engine and matted to a six-speed manual transmission, the Civic Type R embodies the company’s “Soul-shaking Superior Drive” concept. Prior to its launch, the Type R was tested on the North course of the famed Nurburgring circuit in Germany and has set a new World’s record of 7 minutes and 50 seconds lap time, the fastest for any FF production vehicle.
Like Honda, powerhouse Toyota Motor Corporation unveiled several concept vehicles including the FCV Plus, a hydrogen powered car with unconventional looks. Toyota also unveiled the S-FR Sports car and the KIKAI, a fusion of retro and futuristic designs.
Nissan on the other hand displayed their electric Kei car concepts, the Teatro for Dayz, the Nissan GRIPZ concept and quite possibly, the shape of the next generation GTR, the Nissan Concept 2020 Vision Gran Turismo. Other big launch events which made a buzz were the introduction of the new BMW M4 GTS Sports Coupe, Subaru with their Impreza five-door concept, the beefed up S207 Impreza STi and the 17-car display of Volkswagen which had its Polo R WRC on display.
The Tokyo Motor Show begins October 29 (Press Day) and will run up to November 8.