Filed under: Green Culture, MPG, Toyota, Green Daily, Lightweight, Japan
Toyota iQ wins Japanese Car of the Year
click above to enlarge the Toyota iQ
It may be little, but Toyota's iQ seems to have made a big impact on those voting for Japan's Car of the Year awards. In fact, the final tally wasn't even close, as the diminutive iQ managed to score a perfect ten from 39 of the 65 jurors, earning a total of 526 votes. That total bests the second place finisher, the Citroën C5, by over 300 votes. Somewhat surprisingly, the mighty Nissan GT-R only snagged the bronze, despite its world-beating performance and attractive price point. It just goes to show you that the world's priorities have shifted from outright performance to clever design and fuel efficiency.
Toyota's closest competitor for microcar supremecy is the smart fortwo. That car only seats two while the iQ manages to double that seating capacity by use of an extremely well thought-out design. Rumors has it that the Japanese COTY will come to America wearing a Scion badge and will spawn a number of unique variants. Now that's something to look forward to.
Gallery: 2009 Toyota iQ
[Source: Inside Line]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sir.Vix 2:07PM (11/13/2008)
Mileage?
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oollyoumn 4:24PM (11/13/2008)
About a month ago Wired reported 56 mpg for the iQ in Europe, but they were not clear if these were US converted numbers. They also made the claim it will be coming to the US, but maybe with different engines.
If it beats the Smart in mileage, it may be hard for the Smart to survive. I could easily live this this car.
gulags 3:44PM (11/13/2008)
It's only tangentially-related, but I was out visiting family in Japan this summer and I only recall seeing one Smart in Tokyo.
The competition between the two will be much more fierce here in Socal.
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Throwback 4:20PM (11/13/2008)
Haven driven a Smart, the IQ can't help but be a better car.
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Throwback 4:20PM (11/13/2008)
Haven driven a Smart, the IQ can't help but be a better car.
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This is iQ 6:45AM (11/20/2008)
The official fuel consumption for UK-spec iQ models is 65.69mpg for the combined cycle.
By our reckoning that would be 54.7mpg for US gallons.
www.toyota.co.uk/iq/blog
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