Mazda is about to launch a car with out-riggers and a freaky body. Yes it is Mazda Taiki which we showed before, but now it's shown on Tokyo Motor Show. Mazda has played with its 'Nagare' design concept over the course of 2007, with a steady stream of concept cars inspired by the natural rhythms of nature. Waves, winds, that sort of thing. And the latest, the gracefully swooping Taiki, is indeed named after a Japanese wind.

Senior designers have confirmed to us that a new, small production car will appear with this nagare-inspired look by 2009. So we ask ourself: Will new Mazda 3 be a small hatchback? Or a new, standalone coupe to take up where the MX-3 left off? We're not sure yet, but the news heralds the most important change in Mazda's styling since the arrival of the Mk1 MX-5.

This Taiki looks absolutely outrageous! It's stunning in the metal - a proper old-school concept car, whose graceful length impress and inspire, yet it all makes sense in the context of the Nagare, Ryuga and Hakaze concepts shown earlier this year.
This series of concepts previews a definite movement and Mazda is deadly serious about introducing the look to a showroom near you. Expect the body surfacing, and the adventurous new grille details, to make the journey from motor show stand to high-street dealership.

You'll have to wait a while longer for the Taiki's 1.6-liter rotary engine running on hydrogen, but it's working hard at this technology as well. Trials start in 2008 in Japan.

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In non-WRX form it is a despicably hideous beast but this is the STi and it looks cooking. Ok so it's no longer a super saloon but a hyper five-door hatch, which means Subaru has jumped straight into the ring with VW (Golf), Audi (S3) and Ford (ST) and many others.

Saying that, Subaru claims the body style with short overhang excels in creating down force and aerodynamics. Is it us or does the rear look suspiciously like a BMW 1-series?

STi hallmarks like the flared and vented front wings, wider rear arches, tailgate spoiler, gaping bonnet nostril and M-Sport style quad shotgun tailpipes. Those swollen arches compensate for the wider track (up by 40mm at the front, 45mm rear) and stop those average looking 18-inch alloys from sticking out.

Thankfully BBS rims will be on the options list. There are seven STI colors to choose from, which make or break this opinion-dividing body style. Go for metallic Grey – it oozes menace.

There's still a thirsty boxer under the lid and it's mounted 22mm lower for better road holding. The Tokyo display cars were Japanese domestic market models, featuring 2.0-liter (1994cc) 16v boxers with a twin scroll turbo and Dual AVCS (Dual Active Valve Control System). The result?Over 300bhp.
According to Scooby UK however, the Brit spec STi cars will arrive with a 2.5-liter boxer that develops more torque lower down but – sadly – slightly less power. Just under 300bhp for us. Mind you, it should sound awesome through quad pipes and be more manic with a conventional turbo.

Subaru has put a lot of thought into its materials and it shows. A swoop dash with (in the STi's case) Alcantara and leather clothed Recaros, STi branding, LED door step lights and a DCCD torque indicator. Result? The most handsome Subaru cockpit to date.

Driver's Control Centre Differential. It's far too complicated to explain in a few words, but basically it lets the driver choose automated or full manual modes for the central differential in the legendary AWD system, depending on the terrain and your bravery. It's one of the gadgets that justifies Subaru's marketing message with the new Impreza - it's coined the phrase Subaglue to advertise the Scooby's sticky roadhandling.

The STi also has a front LSD which offers three enjoyment modes, and you can knock off traction control, or VDC as it's known. The tight-gated throw in the six-cog transmission confirms that this will be an uber-focused driving machine.

Also read our previous scoops about Impreza: Subaru Impreza STI and Subaru Impreza STI Finally Unveiled.

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The next-generation large SUV concept unveiled today at the 2007 Tokyo show features an advanced hybrid system with a V6 petrol engine, an electric motor and all-wheel drive, just like the RX’s, but now it’s wrapped up in a more modern and purposeful exterior skin.

The concept’s exterior dimensions are similar to the RX400h’s, but crucially massaged in all the right ways to alleviate the current model’s slightly ungainly ‘body-disconnected-from-its wheels’ stance.

The LF-Xh is longer and wider (by 50mm), lower (by 70mm) and with a wheelbase stretched by 130mm. The result is an SUV that looks altogether more planted to the road and agile in a sporty coupe-like manner. The slatted razorblade-style front grille adds to the smooth feel.

Lexus insiders on the stand said the exterior is pretty much what you can expect from the RX400h’s second-generation model (although the roof might end up a bit higher). The elegant and simple interior is less finalised though, featuring a dramatic aluminium feature detail that swoops down from the centre dashboard top before twisting into the centre console area.
Anticipation is apparently a keyword for the inside in a similar way to the light that illuminates the ground by the door when you unlock the production GS model before getting in. Trouble is, Lexus is clearly not fully happy with the interior their designers made as it wouldn’t let any journalists see the finished inside first hand.

Lexus showed his super car!

Radio silence. Only the much-travelled LF-A concept was wheeled out again at Tokyo despite some pundits thinking we might finally see this much-delayed car in production form. Maybe for the Detroit show then? It’s anyone’s guess.

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The CR-Z is only a concept at the moment, but it’s been given the green light to go into production by Honda president and CEO Takeo Fukui, and what you see here is a very close representation of the finished article.

It’s a lightweight two plus two sports car powered by an as-yet unnamed petrol-hybrid IMA motor which should hit dealers globally in 2009. Honda believes that if you’re going to use hybrid technology, it should be in as lightweight a car as possible – opposing Toyota’s view which is to shoehorn hybrids into bigger and bigger Lexus models. Honda thinks that professional young thrusters with little responsibility but lots of environmental awareness, rather than rich middle-aged executives, are the major growth market for hybrids.

The CR-Z is smaller than a three-door Civic and Honda thinks it’s on to a winner here, with the small sports coupe served pretty poorly, with the aging C-class Sport Coupe and forthcoming Volkswagen Scirocco about the only contenders.
The CR-Z certainly looks the part with its sparky ivory paint job, gaping air intake, and icy-blue LED stare. By the time it reaches production the side windows will probably be a little deeper but don’t expect too much normalization – a radical, sexy model like this could propel Honda ahead of Toyota in the stakes to be seen as the number one hybrid constructor on the planet.

While on the outside, once the good-as-useless wing mirrors and expensive LEDs are replaced for something a bit more serviceable, the interior is still on Planet Concept Car with lots of back lit clear blue plastic indented into the cockpit. But there’s more than a hint of the Civic in the deep and watery blue dials, and the effect is very cool indeed.

You can also see our previous scoop and pictures of Honda CR-Z.

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Suzuki is on a mission to break into the car makers’ top ten, raising production from 2.4 to 3 million, and it needs a decent Mondeo-sized saloon, hatch and estate to help do it. The Kizashi launched at Frankfurt will be the saloon and hatch in 2009; this car - the imaginatively monickered Kizashi 2 - will be the estate a year later.

With production less than two years away, you can bet that the new car’s looks have been locked down, and that it won’t include the shallow glasshouse, huge wheels or ultra-short rear overhang of this concept. But the front and rear-end treatments and some of the other proportions will give you some clues. It's pleasingly slick for a Suzuki.
Nothing radical, although the GM-sourced 3.6-litre V6 and six-speed auto transmission are the most powerful driveline fitted to a ‘factory’ Suzuki, ironic given that the brand’s growth plans are based around increasing demand for the small, efficient cars it specializes in. But this concept is more about style than substance; the vast majority of whatever Suzuki calls its D-segment car will drink from the black diesel pump. The Kizashi 2 was launched to the kind of heavy rock soundtrack.

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The Tokyo Motor Show today saw VW unveil a second iteration of their new small family car – a third model will be shown at the LA Auto Show in November 2007.

Called the Space Up!, the rear-engined car is a stretched version of the three-door we saw at the Frankfurt Motor Show earlier in the year. It’s still rear-engined, but now there’s even more space, and Mini Clubman-esque doors.

The 2560mm wheelbase is now only 18mm shorter than the Audi A3's, thanks in part to the 18-inch wheels being pushed out to each corner. Overall the Space Up is 230mm longer, and 40mm higher than the three-door Up. But VW still reckons it’s 150mm shorter than their current smallest model, the Fox.
The Space Up is all about versatility. All the seats bar the drivers can be folded or completely removed, which means up to 1005 liters of space, which is only 75 litres short of the A3. And that is before you put anything under the bonnet. There’s even a door that can be opened in the passenger foot well to allow for long loads.

This is all made possible by the rear-engined layout, and the VW press release teasingly says the car could be petrol, diesel, or electric powered. Expect three-cylinder power for European models, which should start at £4000 for the three-door.

The rear now has a pair of side-hinging doors, just like on a Clubman. But unlike the Clubman, whose doors open around the lights, the doors on the Space Up are translucent panels into which LED tail lights are set.

And thanks to the stretched wheelbase access to the rear is better thanks to two new butterfly doors, or suicide doors, or whatever the marketing speak is these days.

The driver gets a touchscreen to control functions like the air-con and entertainment system. The screen also tells you how much CO2 you’re emitting. Volkswagen are currently developing the Up range to appear in production form before the end of the decade.

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