Everything comes in a box in Tokyo. Press kits, our lunch, the Starbucks latte and scone we ordered at the train station this morning, and certainly, personal transportation.
There are good reasons for this: One, boxes are inherently tidy, orderly, law-abiding and stylish. Two, twelve million people live in this city, and boxes are more space-efficient to sardine into garages. Three, the government-subsidized kei car class places stringest limitations on a car's physical footprint, so a box-shaped vehicle ensures maximum interior space.
Any manufacturer that's serious about doing business in Japan has at least one box-shaped vehicle on its stand. This year the Honda N Box and Daihatsu FC ShoCase concept get our best-in-show awards in the box category.
The N Box is an actual production vehicle that goes on sale in Japan in two weeks. Its 660cc engine is a dead giveaway that it's a kei car, but you can get a turbo bolted to that on the high-line models.
The most interesting thing about Honda's new box is the packaging. It's like the Fit, where you have the gas tank under the front seats -- way more innovation than you usually see on kei cars -- so you get a huge backseat and it folds perfectly flat into the floor.
Daihatsu's box is a far weirder thing with top- and side-hinged doors that run the length and width of the vehicle.
The company calls it a "zero-emission next-generation mobility solution," which sounds terribly boring, but refers to the FC ShoCase's fuel cell-electric drivetrain.
It's not a fuel cell in the traditional sense, because the fuel is hydrazine hydrate (a liquid), rather than hydrogen gas and doesn't require a platinum catalyst. If you've shopped for jewelry recently, you'll remember how expensive platinum can be. Daihatsu has been pushing the hydrazine idea for some years now, as a way to make fuel cell technology viable in mass production, particularly in small cars sold on tighter margins. N2H4 (w/ H2O) looks to be kind of a nasty chemical (it's made from ammonia was was first used to fuel WWII fighter planes), but it's not like we'd suds up in 91 octane, either.
Still, the fuel cell is just a sideshow to the main event, which is a perfect box of a vehicle. You can fold every single one of the FC ShoCase's seats into the floor, including the driver seat, to create a vast surface for whatever in your hypothetical life needs to be boxed up.
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duck87 says:
08:32 AM, 12/ 1/11
The N-box is really a mini-minivan. The rear power sliding doors are hilarious. Maybe useful in tight parking spots.
Erin Riches replied to comment from duck87
08:48 AM, 12/ 1/11
Indeed. I couldn't believe those sliding doors were power-operated when I tugged them open to take the photos... I always get kick out of seeing stuff like the Toyota Porte here -- just two doors and one of them (on passenger side) is a slider.
blueprint1 says:
09:16 AM, 12/ 1/11
Rear legroom looks incredible in the N Box! Erin, a sidebar on your Japanese experience would be a fun read.
revn says:
09:34 AM, 12/ 1/11
That Daihatsu is a microwave.
carfreak13 says:
11:11 AM, 12/ 1/11
that would make a great taxi