Tokyo motor show offers 2020 visions of the future

A sporty low-roofed crossover running on hydrogen and able to drive and steer itself in heavy traffic and motorway situations: welcome to your new car in 2020. That’s the template for the future if the busy stands at this year’s Tokyo motor show are an indicator of our future.

For the first time in at least six years there’s a real sense of optimism in the halls of a Tokyo motor show. In the midst of a seismic upheaval in the automotive world - from autonomous driving to alternative fuel options - Japan’s big car brands are ready and eager to take the lead.

What is clear from the stands at Tokyo is that it’s a future where autonomous driving will play a role in most new cars by 2020, and where hydrogen fuel cell technology is the long-term replacement for petrol and diesel engines.

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Lexus’s LF-FC concept car: promising a look at the new flagship for the premium brand and with a hydrogen powertrain

Those are the themes of a show long-regarded as the best for offering a longer term view of industry trends than the other global auto events. Tokyo has always been a hub for far-fetched concepts. However, even the new metal on display promises more than a new take on sheet metal and combustion engines.

The biggest draw at the show is the new Toyota Prius, the poster boy of the hybrid generation. Once dismissed as irrelevant by its European rivals, these days Toyota boasts 11 hybrid variants in its fleet and those once-dismissive rivals are racing to roll out their own hybrid versions.

Critics of the current Prius generally focus on the size of the car and the fit and finish. This time the new Prius delivers much more space than its predecessors, a much improved cabin trim and fuel consumption and emissions figures up to 18 per cent better than the current model. In reality that means an impressive average of 88.3 mpg (3.2 l/100km). Such an eyecatching fuel consmption figure and expected low annual motor tax figure should lure far more buyers to Prius in the future, particularly in the fleet market. The car arrives in Irish showrooms at the start of February.

Toyota is also making much of its hydrogen-powered Mirai (a car we tested recently), and despite media scepticism about the roll out of hydrogen filling stations, engineers and executives are still confident that this fuel source is the answer to range anxiety over electric cars. The car is going on sale in several European markets and hydrogen stations are being rolled out. With no sign of any in Ireland, however, there will be no Mirai on our roads for some time.

A surprise at the show was the unveiling of a fuel cell concept car for Lexus. Billed as a concept version of a future flagship for the brand, the striking new model bears a lot of the Lexus DNA in terms of styling and is arguably the best looking car at the show. It also claims to add a lot more features in terms of autonomous driving and in-car controls, along with its hydrogen fuel cell powertrain.

Toyota is not alone in its hydrogen dreams: Honda is also an ardent hydrogen fan and it is also going to start selling its Clarity Fuel Cell car to the general public next year.

The big issue with hydrogen remains the introduction of filling stations, which can cost at least €500,000 to build. A national network will set someone back a tidy sum and with a limited number on the roads at least for a decade or so, it’s hard to see private firms investing with little chance of a profitable return for years. Nevertheless these car firms are adamant that hydrogen is the answer to our future fuel needs.

Closer to mainstream production reality, amongst the concepts on display from Nissan were a new crossover format - part small-scale SUV, part low-roofed funky sports version. The Gripz concept points to the future direction Nissan is preparing to take in the crossover segment, where it first turned heads with the Qashqai in 2006.

Staying on this theme of sporty-looking crossovers, Toyota is preparing to put its CH-R concept into production next year, with a likely launch at March’s Geneva motor show. It has been billed in media reports as a rival to the Qashqai but it may well be closer to the likes of the Gripz concept or Mitsubishi’s concept, the eX, also unveiled at the Tokyo show.

Nissan also showcased a model it says illustrates the changes likely in new cars as self-driving becomes increasingly standard. Offering two modes, the first is “manual drive mode” where the driver takes control as per normal, but advanced monitoring by the car’s sensors ensures lapses of concentration don’t lead to crashes. The second mode is “piloted drive mode” where the car takes control and the steering wheel retracts into the instrument panel, replaced by a large touchscreen display. All four seats can also rotate to face each other, leaving the car to look after the transport.

For a nation long at the forefront of robotics, the advent of autonomous driving seems a logical move and one where the nation’s eager adoption of new technology is clearly a boon. Driverless test cars are already granted licences for testing on public roads.

Technology is now top of the agenda in the automotive world so it’s only fitting that Japan’s big car showcase is back on the global calendar. For several years the Tokyo motor show was in the doldrums as European brands stopped attending, stands stood largely empty and the very future of the show looked to be in doubt.

That's certainly not the case now and the European brands are back in force - with even Fiat and Alfa Romeo in attendance. From presentations by Citroen and Peugeot through to a rather contrite and apologetic presentation from Volkswagen - still immersed in its cheating scandal - the speeches were being addressed to Asia and international audiences as much as to the local Japanese market.

Given the massive changes in play in the auto world, a willingness to try and predict the future along with tech savvy are vital attributes for car firms. It’s no coincidence they sit well with the Japanese approach.