The Tokyo Motor Show, or, as we’re officially supposed to call it these days, the Japan Mobility Show, is back for its biennial appearance on the car industry calendar. With press day in full swing, there are plenty of reveals to get caught up on, from the usual raft of far-fetched concept cars to stuff that could have a very real presence on roads around the world before long.
Here’s a roundup of everything major that’s been revealed, plus a few curiosities you might have missed away from the main headlines.
Daihatsu
Daihatsu K-Open concept
The ever-fascinating Daihatsu might have dropped the pleasant surprise of the show with the K-Open, a new iteration of its cute kei-class sports car. Officially just a concept for now, it looks pretty ready for production, and swaps the front-wheel drive layout of Copens of old for a rear-drive setup, adding to its sports car cred. There’s a manual gearbox to be found, too.
There’s just one catch – Daihatsu only sells cars in Japan these days, so it’s unlikely we’ll see it in showrooms outside of its home country. Sad face.
Daihatsu K-Vision concept
Away from the K-Open, Daihatsu also showed off concepts for a few other tiny and fun-looking machines which, if they make production, will also most likely remain Japan-only: the K-Vision people carrier, Kayoibako-K van and the teeny Midget X delivery vehicle.
Honda
Honda Super-N prototype
The big news on Honda’s stand, for Britain at least, is the Super-N, the near-production version of the camouflaged Super EV concept we saw earlier this year. Based on the N-One kei car, it gets a chunkier stance and sportier look, topped off by a Boost performance mode that brings simulated gearshifts.
It’s big news for Britain because, for now at least, we’re going to be the sole market outside Asia that receives the Super-N – it’s coming here next year to take on the Hyundai Inster and reborn Renault Twingo.
Honda 0 Alpha prototype
Also new on the Honda stand is the 0 Alpha prototype, a new third entrant into its upcoming series of unconventionally-styled 0 Series EVs. It retains a lot of the styling cues of the bigger SUV prototype we’ve already seen, but while that and the 0 Saloon are set to come to Europe, the 0 Alpha is being developed mainly for Japan and India, where it’ll launch in 2027. Honda does say it’ll be sold globally, though, so it could still come to Europe.
Lexus
Lexus Tokyo Motor Show exhibits
Lexus appears to have gone slightly mad, in the best way possible. It’s revealed three separate LS-badged concepts, none of which has a single thing to do with the luxury saloon that precedes them.
One is a six-wheeled luxury van, another is a slightly generic coupe-crossover thing, and the third is a bizarre single-person autonomous luxury pod for whizzing around congested city centres.
It hasn’t stopped there either, also showing off a collaboration with Joby, an upstart manufacturer of small electric VTOL aircraft, a luxury catamaran, and, erm, a house.
Lexus Sport Concept interior
Finally, the Sport Concept that first appeared at Pebble Beach earlier this year is back on display, with its interior shown off for the first time. It’s thought to preview either a Lexus sibling to the upcoming Toyota GR GT, or a future EV sports car from the luxury brand.
Mazda
Mazda Vision X-Coupe concept
The major draw to Mazda’s stand will doubtless be the gorgeous Vision X-Coupe concept, a big luxury fastback powered by a plug-in hybrid system which has, at its heart, a turbocharged twin-rotor Wankel engine. It’s also said to feature Mazda’s new carbon capture system, which, in theory, removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere the more you drive it. If Mazda can make all this work, then you could help save the planet by driving around in a 503bhp rotary-powered sports saloon. Incredible stuff.
Mazda Vision X-Compact concept
It’s also debuted the Vision X-Compact, a cute little supermini that looks for all the world like a next-gen 2. We’re fond of the way it looks, less so of the fact that it wants to “form an emotional connection” with its driver through the use of AI. Shudder. We’d still welcome something of its ilk to compete with the cutesy new Nissan Micra, though.
Mini
Mini Cooper Electric Paul Smith Edition
Japanese brands are the undisputed stars of the Tokyo Show, but they’re not the only ones getting involved. Mini has used the occasion to debut its latest collaboration with British fashion designer Paul Smith, the creatively-titled Paul Smith Edition. Launching on the Mini Cooper Electric from £32,750, it’ll also soon be available on the petrol-powered three-door, five-door and convertible Minis.
Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi Elevance concept
Mitsubishi doesn’t sell cars in Britain anymore (for now, at least), and the stuff it’s unveiled at Tokyo isn’t particularly relevant to the European market either, so we’ll keep this brief. The Elevance concept is a lifestyleish plug-in hybrid SUV with swivelling seats and an AI co-driver (sigh).
Mitsubishi Delica prototype and Delica Mini
Then there’s a near-finished prototype of the latest version of the Delica, the car that was doing the whole rugged adventure van thing long before it was cool, plus the new Delica Mini, a model that takes that car’s name and rufty-tufty looks and shrinks them down to kei car dimensions.
Nissan
Nissan Ariya facelift
It’s been a relatively quiet show for Nissan compared to the rest of the Japanese big three – understandably so, since it’s still trying to turn around its ailing fortunes. Of most relevance to us in Europe is a mid-life facelift for the electric Ariya crossover, which should roll out fully in early 2026.
Nissan Elgrand
Japan, meanwhile, has been treated to a new generation of the Elgrand, one of the country’s unique genres of big, posh people carriers that are increasingly popular imports in Britain. In other words, expect to see a high-mileage one being used as an UberXL on a Saturday night in Birmingham in about a decade’s time.
Nissan Sakura Ao-Solar Extender
Finally, Nissan’s developed the Ao-Solar Extender, a prototype system for the little electric Sakura kei car,which adds an extendable solar panel to the roof to top up the battery while it’s parked. This, estimates Nissan, could provide owners with over 1800 extra miles of range per year, all provided by the big orange blob in the sky.
Subaru
Subaru Performance-E STI concept
Subaru promised some of the biggest enthusiast draws to the show with a duo of STI-badged concepts, the electric Performance-E and petrol-powered Performance-B. Both have now been unveiled in full, although details on either are still scant.
Literally all we know about the Performance-E is that it’s electric, but we imagine it’s being envisioned with the sort of torque vectoring trickery that’s helping make EVs like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N palatable to enthusiasts. It’s also the more likely of the two to be previewing a future STI production model, however distant.
Subaru Performance-B STI concept
The Performance-B, meanwhile, is curiously based on the standard Impreza rather than the WRX – now entirely separate models. Further info is once again sparse, but we know it’s got a petrol boxer engine, all-wheel drive and a manual gearbox. Will it be made? Probably not. Can we dream? Yes.
Suzuki
Suzuki Vision e-Sky concept
Once again, there’s nothing from Suzuki that’s particularly exciting to the average enthusiast or relevant to the European market. But if you like small electric hatchbacks, small electric vans and small crossovers that you can fill up with biofuel as well as petrol, Suzuki at least has you covered with the Vision e-Sky, e-Every and Fronx FFV concepts, respectively.
Toyota
Unsurprisingly, Toyota’s been pretty much the busiest manufacturer of the lot at Tokyo, and that’s not even accounting for all the weird stuff Lexus has been up to.
Toyota Land Cruiser FJ
Its first reveal came a week before the show with the long-awaited Land Cruiser FJ, the baby sibling to the various full-size Cruisers available around the world. It condenses similar retro looks and much of the off-road talent of the J250 series available in Britain into a much smaller package, but sadly, it’s currently not set for the European market.
Toyota Corolla Concept
Perhaps its most important exhibit, though, is the Corolla Concept. It’s not necessarily a direct preview of the next Corolla, but it could be a glimpse at what the world’s most popular car nameplate could look like in, say, a decade’s time. Toyota’s hedging its bets with powertrains, saying it could theoretically be offered as a full EV, a pure ICE car and pretty much every kind of hybrid you care to imagine.
Century coupe concept
Then there’s Toyota’s plan to spin off its Japan-only Century luxury models into their own separate sub-brand, spearheaded by an unnamed jacked-up coupe concept with a strange offset two-seater arrangement and sliding doors. It’s a lot to take in.
Toyota IMV Origin
There are all kinds of other stuff, too: the IMV Origin is an ultra-basic utility vehicle designed to be shipped unfinished and assembled locally in remote parts of Africa, where it can then be put to work in difficult terrain. Then, there are concepts for future versions of the HiAce van, and all manner of strange gadgets and mobility projects, from the Kids Mobi, an autonomous pod for children, to the Walk Me, an alternative to a wheelchair featuring folding legs that can climb stairs and sit down. Yes, we’re still talking about the same company that makes the Yaris.
Toyota Walk Me
Notable, by its absence, despite being teased in the run-up to the show, is the GR GT supercar. Thankfully, we don’t have long to wait to see this too: Toyota’s confirmed it’ll be revealed in early December.
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