By Edward Niedermeyer
June 9, 2008 -
Toyota's iQ is shaping out to be some of the toughest competition in the sure-to-grow city-car class. Winding Road has spy shots of the SMART-fighter road testing in Japan. Photos reveal the model's radical wheel-at-each-corner stance, facilitated by Toyota's newly developed differential, flat underfloor gas tank and angled rear suspension. By maximizing interior space, the Toyota will offer back row seating: room for three adults and one child or bag of groceries. The iQ is nearly two feet longer than the SMART, making it both more commodious AND better-proportioned. The small-but premium Toyota was caught in camouflage, but it's not hard to imagine the Geneva showcar's production-ready sheetmetal on this car. Toyota expects to sell 100k iQs per year, after launching the model into the teeth of the European city car market later this year. If it succeeds there, if gas prices continue their precipitous climb, don't be too surprised if the iQ shows up stateside, possibly in micro-ute Urban Cruiser form. We'll let you know.
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POWERED
June 9th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Does GM plan to have an entrant for this niche? Besides the Aveo, I mean.
June 9th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
It seems like the Chevy Beat would be the closest thing GM would have to the Toyota iQ but there’s no telling if they’ll ever actually produce it.
I’d find it more likely that if they decide to go with anything smaller than the Aveo they’ll just grab another random Daewoo and call it the Chevy Beat.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I see a new Scion xA here.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
How come I’m the only one without a chubby after seeing this car?
I like the GM show alternatives better. (Groove, Beat and Trax). Afterall, they’re as real on this continent as this Toyo is.
June 9th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
gawdodirt :
I like the GM show alternatives better. (Groove, Beat and Trax).
In all honesty I wish GM would actually produce one, if not all, of them. They could desperately use cars like that now and if they actually went the extra mile to make them kinda fun to drive they might sell a bunch. I know I’d give ‘em a look.
Richard Chen :
I agree wholeheartedly. That would make a great sequel to the xA.
June 9th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
How come I’m the only one without a chubby after seeing this car?
Because like many pro-doms, you refuse to like anything Toyota does?
June 10th, 2008 at 3:18 am
Something tells me that the back seat(s?) will at least be usable - ever tried fitting an adult in the rear seat of a 1987 300ZX? It doesn’t work…
Bring it here, please. It would match nicely beside our xA (and give me an excuse to have some fun with the xA’s suspension).
June 10th, 2008 at 4:13 am
Looks cute and won’t be ridiculously expensive like the smart. Daimler Chrysler’s mistake was selling the smart priced as a semi-luxury vehicle in many parts of the world, when clearly it’s not.
Toyota will make this thing cheap, well built, and market it properly world wide. I very rarely carry a passenger, and almost never more than two, so this thing would be ideal for me as a city commuter car.
June 10th, 2008 at 7:35 am
It looks a lot like a reduced length Toyota Aygo, which was launched in Britain in 2005 in the micro car category, built off the same platform (maybe even the same factory, I’m not sure) as the Peugeot 107 and the Citroen C1.
The 1.0l petrol is advertised at 61mpg imperial, which is 48mpg US.
http://www.greencarsite.co.uk/GREENCARS/green-cars-photos/Toyota-aygo-green.jpg
June 10th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Car Shark,
Not true at all! But if it was, it would fit your dream better.
I like the Scion lineup. Not enough to buy one, but that’s not important.
Nothing ground breaking. Just variants of other’s ideas. Well executed, but still copies. even the Pious. Which was first, Insight or Pious?
June 10th, 2008 at 10:18 am
This is much, much smaller than the Scion xA (or Scion xD, which is the same size).
In terms of size:
iQ is smaller than the Aygo which is smaller than the Yaris three door which is smaller than the Scion xA which is the same size as the Scion xD.