Most of our readers will know by now that the Cygnet exists purely to counteract the 120 grams of CO2 per kilogram EU carbon restrictions to be introduced in 2012. With a combined CO2 g/km rating of 400, Aston Martin’s current fleet of high performance vehicles could never match this.
Rumor has it that Toyota is developing a roadster version of its newly introduced iQ minicar that will make its first appearance in concept form at the Tokyo Motor Show to be held from October 23 through November 8, 2009. This latest speculative rendering that comes from Japan's Motor Magazine depicts a Daihatsu Copen-like two-seater roadster with a set of protective roll bars that is based on the underpinnings of the iQ.If the rumors turn out to be true and Toyota does decide to go ahead and build a production variant of the roadster, then it will most likely be equipped with the same powertrains as the iQ hatchback, including the 1.0-liter and 1.33-liter gasoline engines and quite possibly, a 1.4-liter diesel. However, since we have a long way to go before the 41st Tokyo Salon opens its doors to the public, we're keeping this on Rumorville for now.
Source: Motor Magazine
Beginning from July, Toyota's iQ premium minicar will be offered in Europe with a new 100HP 1.33-liter Dual VVT-i 4-cylinder gasoline engine. Featuring a Stop & Start system as standard, the new engine will give the miniscule four-seater a combined cycle fuel consumption of 4.8lt / 100 km (49.0mpg US) and CO2 emissions of 113g/km, using the standard six-speed manual transmission.Buyers can also opt for Toyota's Multidrive semi-automatic transmission. In this case, the iQ 1.33 returns a combined cycle fuel consumption of 5.1lt / 100km or 46.1mpg US with CO2 emissions of 120g/km.
The European organization for the assessment of vehicle safety has published the first results under its updated rating system. Up until now, Euro NCAP made three separate ratings available for each vehicle, but with the new system there's an overall rating for every car covering Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Pedestrian Protection and a new area of assessment, Safety Assist which takes into account systems such as electronic stability control (ESC) and seat belt reminders.Of the six cars tested under the new ratings system, four managed to achieve Euro NCAP's maximum award of five stars: the Mazda 6, Mitsubishi Lancer, Toyota Avensis and Toyota iQ. Citroen's C3 Picasso minivan and the Subaru Impreza were both awarded four stars.
According to Euro NCAP, with the exception of the Subaru Impreza, all the other cars failed to impress on pedestrian protection.
After the announcement of the results, Mitsubishi and Subaru both said that they would change their ESC (electronic stability control) fitment policies for the Lancer and Impreza, as variants of these models without optional ESC were offered in some Euroepan countries.
Euro NCAP's new rating scheme requires all safety equipment, including ESC, to be standard on 85% of volume sales and at least optionally available on every variant.
A pair of drivers from Toyota's UK based 'iQ blog' managed to break through 500 miles with a standard iQ 1.0-litre VVT-i (that's the petrol engine version) on a single tank of fuel. Mark and Simon from the 'iQ blog' traveled to 18 cities in two days on a route that took them as far west as Cardiff and as far north as Wolverhampton. In theory, since the official fuel economy of the iQ is rated at 65.7 UK mpg / 54.7 US mpg, the full 32-liter tank should have gone dry once they covered a distance of 462 miles.
However, and in spite of the fact that the two drivers said that they had to deal with wind, rain, congestion and the need to run the heater, headlights and wipers – factors that have a negative impact on fuel economy, the car managed 504.2 miles before the ending of its journey in central Oxford. Put the numbers together and that translates to an average of 71.6 UK mpg or 59.42 US mpg.
Even though the team's driving style was evidently focused on achieving a low fuel consumption, nevertheless, the end result is impressive since we're talking about real-life road conditions.
One day before the Detroit Show's doors open to the members of the press, and Toyota published the first photographs of its battery-electric FT-EV concept car that previews a forthcoming production version expected to hit the market by 2012. As you have probably already guessed by looking at the pictures, the FT-EV is based on Toyota's new urban dweller, the iQ. Toyota supports in its teaser release that the FT-EV concept "can be driven up to 50 miles between home, work and other forms of public transportation, such as high-speed rail." Not much, but stay tuned on Carscoop as well have more details on the FT-EV Concept car as soon they come in. For the time being, check out the high-res image gallery of Toyota's battery-electric concept minicar.
