Toyota executive ponders future of the Prius

Toyota introduces Prius of future, space-age wheelchair at car show

The automotive industry has named it the Prius of

the future - Toyota's 1/X concept car, built of plastic reinforced with carbon fibres that make it nearly two-thirds lighter than the world's most popular hybrid vehicle.

Toyota Motor Corp president Katsuaki Watanabe spoke of a "new direction for sustainable mobility" as the world's second-largest automaker presented the 1/X at the start of the Tokyo Motor Show.

Thanks to its 0.5-litre hybrid engine, the 1/X can be tanked up at a conventional household electrical outlet or with petrol or ethanol

in a design that Toyota sees as improving on its Prius' fuel efficiency and as having great sales potential as oil prices soar.

Toyota said the 1/X can travel 38 kilometres on a litre of fuel, double the fuel economy of the Prius.

Toyota, which was presenting eight concept cars at the Tokyo show, was also attracting visitor interest with its unreal-looking i-REAL, a one-person vehicle that wouldn't look out of place as the star of a science fiction movie.

The i-REAL looks much like a large wheelchair and allows its driver to slowly roll along sidewalks with pedestrians or extend its wheelbase for greater stability so it can whip through street traffic.

The concept vehicle is also equipped with monitors that alert its handlers to potential collisions with alarms and vibrations.

?© 2007 AAP

Source: [url=http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-prius25oct25,0,2588069.story?coll=la-home-business]Los Angeles Times[/url]