Like the grill treatment Toyota has revealed the second of its Prius C spin-off concept models ahead of this week’s Tokyo motor show - the Aqua Cross. A pair of computer generated images reveal that the hybrid city car has been given the rough-and-tumble treatment, with chunky alloy wheels, raised suspension, more aggressive front-end styling including a large mesh grille and bold driving lights, silver trimmed underbody protection, roof rails and mirror caps, and flared wheel arch extensions. Inside, the Aqua Cross gains a revised dashboard fascia, as well as new trim on the seats and green stitching on the steering wheel and gear-knob. There’s no word yet as to whether Toyota is considering a production version of the high-riding Prius C, but if it were to build such a car, it could give the brand a competitor in the burgeoning mini SUV class which includes the likes of the Holden Trax, Peugeot 2008, Fiat Panda, Nissan Juke and soon-to-be-released Ford EcoSport. Advertisement However, Toyota Australia has previously played down the importance of offering a sub-compact SUV, suggesting the segment is currently in its infancy. The Aqua Cross isn’t the only spinoff model the Japanese brand will show - it will also reveal the Prius C-based Aqua Air convertible, and a sportier looking domestic market model known as the Aqua G Sports. Toyota reveals Aqua Cross city SUV
Nice rims on the Aqua Cross. It reminds me a bit of the old Outback Sport. I suppose the new XV Crosstrek is closer since that's a hatchback and the Outback Sport was a wagon (Canada never got the last generation Outback Sport). I like the convertible but it looks like one of those Japan-only vehicles (like the old Honda Beat)
The Cross is my favorite of the alternate Cs. I'd love to get AWD with it as well, but unfortunately most of the micro SUVs don't have AWD drive. The Juke has it available, and was high up on my list when I was car shopping. I ended up with a C, but would love to have found something in between.
When my wife and I visited my mom and family in Tokyo back in July we saw a lot of vehicles - Toyota, Honda and other brands - which we'd never seen before. Saw cars/brands which I never knew existed. A friend told me to check out the Japanese micro-vans and they were everywhere. We'd love to have one here but someone said they don't meet US regs or that the car makers/importers don't think they'd have sales appeal here.
The Kei cars may not fit the U.S. roads as they are quite small (two can just about squeeze side-by-side in one lane. Heck, a kei-car sized pickup can probably fit in a bed of a long bed 1/2 ton). We can get them in Canada via importers (especially the South Coast cause that's the Port of Entry for vehicles coming in from Asia). There was a Toyota Sera for sale for Cdn$10,000 which would have the importation fees and shipping already added in (and of course some profit) several years back. Here's a link to a Canadian importer. I'm not sure how it'll fare in the U.S. if it's already imported into Canada. I know you have different regulations (e.g. 25 years vs. 15 years) Japanoid.com - Home Edit: Nevermind. Japanoid.com - Owning a Japanoid You can't import their vehicles.
I really don't understand US import laws re some cars. I can only assume it is done to protect the home market. Once it can pass the state test when it arrives, we can drive pretty much anything we want. In the last ten years, the average age of cars was 5/6 years, so all pretty new. As credit is not as readily available, it has been pushed out slightly, but all in all the quality/agr of cars here in Ireland is high. If you go to most of the other EU countries you will find a lot more older cars. I suppose that we have a much smaller market and such, the number of cars imported is restricted by that. We have access to and can quite easily import all the weird and wonderful vehicles that the Japanese produce..... Here's a link to one site that imports for us here in Ireland JDMAuctionWatch | Performance Cars Direct from Japan
The big 3 (and the UAW) to be more precise, there are a lot of politics involved in the matter. Too bad they don't put a reliable and nice looking 50 MPG hybrid on the market with a reasonable price tag, if they did that I'd consider buying American.
I'm not sure, I just get the impression that an SUV is meant to be taken off the road (being a utility vehicle and all). The Aqua's suspension to me just looks too close to the ground. Is that a roof rack in the pic? I can't tell, but as an SUV it could use one. I assume since it's a "city SUV" it'll have the same "can't see a moose walking into the road when I go up a hill in the dark" style lights in the front, which would be a disappointing limitation.
I agree - It's kinda the ultimate cute ute. All show, no go. Friend on Maui hunts. Uses old early 70s Ford Bronco. His hunting partner bought some kind of AWD cute ute for hunting - my friend tore him a new a..hole - said AWD and 4WD is NOT the same and the AWD is worse than useless in the rough. YMMV
