Nakajima says iQ sales are holding up on target, at about 3,600 in Europe in February, and nearly 1,800 in Japan the same month.
"Interest is high," he said of the iQ. "But it's really a tough market now."
SHOOT: The good news is that smaller is definitely the way to go. It is also more praxtical instead of jumping to Electrica as an isolated strategy to use current technology but make it much more compact, lighter, smaller and more efficient. Deploy the same sort of technology as an Electric Vehicle. Internal Combustion Engines [ICE] will at some stage probably come with a gas tax. If not, they will be so cheap that more people will buy cars and what we need is less motoring, not more.
TOYOTA, Japan (AP) — Toyota's new tiny car doesn't boast any state of the art hybrid or plug-in technology. But the iQ has plenty else packed into a diminutive frame that blends stylish curves with safety, fuel efficiency and smooth handling.
The iQ at less than 3 meters (9.8 feet) long is smaller than Toyota Motor Corp.'s Yaris subcompact. It is being shown as a Scion model, which targets younger buyers, at the New York International Auto Show, opening to the public April 10. It went on sale November in Japan, earlier this year in Europe, and is being considered for the U.S. market.
The boxlike yet curvy "premium four-seater" encapsulates Toyota's strategic ambitions to woo buyers of European models like German Daimler AG's Smart two-seater. It is also an attempt to engineer bigger profits from usually cheap small cars.
The iQ starts at 1.4 million yen ($14,000) in Japan, about 330,000 yen ($3,300) more than the Vitz subcompact |
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