Toyota will be thinking big but showing small at next month’s Geneva motor show. It will be giving centre stage to the ground-breaking Toyota iQ, it’s new three-metre city car. The iQ appeared at the 2007 Frankfurt show as a concept, and will be shown at Geneva in production-ready form; in other words, exactly how it will be when it shows up on British roads in early 2009.However, it will also be showing a small 4x4 – a sub-RAV4 model designed to rival the forthcoming Mini Crossman and Skoda Yeti – which will be called the Urban Cruiser. Read the latest on both models below.
Toyota iQ
Toyota markets the iQ as the world’s smallest four-seat car; in fact it’s more of a 3+1, but it certainly is small: at 2980mm long, it’s smaller even than the original Mini.When the concept car was shown at Frankfurt last year, Toyota remained quiet on the engine that would power it; the likelihood is that it’ll run a compact 1.0-litre triple with auto stop-start functionality, but we’ll find out for certain next month.We should also get a clearer idea of where Toyota UK sees the iQ fitting in within its model range. Just because it’s their smallest car, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it’ll be Toyota’s cheapest. We’d bet that prices will kick off at around £8500: just above those of the Yaris supermini.
Toyota Urban Cruiser
Autocar published spy photos of Toyota’s second Geneva show offering late in 2007. The Urban Cruiser, according to company insiders, will share a production line with the Japanese market Toyota Ist and the Scion XD. It looks very much like its cousins too, but has a new grille, and new headlights that better befit Toyota's European market range.It’s likely to be powered by a 105bhp 1.5-litre engine mated to a continuously variable transmission, and be available with a choice of front- or four-wheel drive.
Other Geneva attractions
Visitors to Toyota’s stand at next month’s salon will also find its latest plug-in hybrid concept, the Prius mk.III-previewing 1/X, and the unusual i-Real personal mobility concept, both fresh from the Tokyo show last year.
