Japan’s biggest carmaker, Toyota, is keen to capitalize on the ultra-compact city runabout niche, which is set to grow exponentially in the coming years, as more and more people decide to go green and go small, in the face of ever-increasing fuel prices.
One such proposal from Toyota is a new all-electric concept called the i-Road that will premiere at the Geneva auto show next week.
It is a tandem two-seater vehicle very similar to the already familiar Renault Twizy. However, the Japanese design will differ from the French one in two key areas: it loses one of its rear wheels, and thanks to this, the i-Road can tilt into a bend, ensuring the vehicle’s stability throughout.
The fact that the vehicle tilts is quite interesting, and it will not only look very cool when cornering, but it means the engineers behind it won’t have to put granite in the suspension to stop it from rolling over, like they did with the aforementioned Twizy, which has been criticized for its very harsh ride.
Toyota says that the i-Road is both fun and emissions-free, but aside from that we’ll have to wait for the concept’s official debut, on March 7, at the 2013 Geneva International Motor Show, to get the complete scoop.
By Andrei Nedelea
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