New car news

30 September 2009 - 11:00

Honda’s three-thinking

See Honda's Tokyo concepts

The Tokyo motor show might be three weeks away, but the Japanese manufacturers have already started their posturing.
 
First to buzz the newswires is Honda. It will show off a near-production version of its CR-Z Concept, the world’s first hybrid sports car, which will fizzle into reality when it goes on sale next year.
 
Alongside that will be the cheeky EV-N concept, an all-electric microcar inspired by the N360S kei car from the Sixties. It would seem it also uses the wheels from a Tonka toy. Honda admits this one really is a design concept and has no plans to actually build it. Which is a shame, as we’d like to see it take on the Toyota iQ.
 
The green-mobiles continue with the Skydeck concept – a family car that shows how hybrids could be packaged in the future. Instead of piling the batteries behind the rear seats, which chomps into bootspace, the Skydeck packs them down the middle of the car, beneath the central tunnel.

And if that’s not enough, Honda is also taking its U3-X wheelie chair thingy. But the less said about that, the better.