Archive for the ‘Design’ Category
Enjoying clean Swiss air - the show must go on!
Posted by Colin Hensley on March 08, 2009 in 360° approach, Design, Green Technologies
Those of you that follow our Twitter will know that I’m just back from the Geneva Motor Show. We had a very busy time at the show, for a number of reasons. Firstly because the industry is under intense scrutiny at the moment, as we are doing our best to weather a really tough crisis. Secondly, we launched the new Prius into Europe at our event last Monday evening, alongside the new Verso, (C-segment MPV.)
It was great to have a chance to meet Akihiko Otsuka, who is the Chief Engineer of the Prius, and to talk to him about his hopes, aims and anecdotes of when he led the team that developed the car. When I wrote a few weeks ago about the Prius and about the new engine, I couldn’t reveal that the CO2 figure for the combined cycle in Europe is just 89g/km. I also didn’t know all of the efforts that were made in so many areas of engineering the car to do everything to reduce the fuel consumption during real-life driving. I did know the CO2 figure on Monday, and that motivated me to really pick Otsuka-san’s brain. Next week, I’ll write a bit more technical blog on that, but for today I’ll leave you with one little gem. When developing the new Prius, Otsuka-san researched loads of things, even including large ships, which are know for running on highly efficient internal combustion engines. We can learn from everywhere, we just have to be unafraid to look.
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Comments(0)Small but perfectly formed – what’s your iQ?
Posted by Colin Hensley on February 20, 2009 in Design
I used to be responsible for crash testing here in TME. That was a fascinating but very sobering experience, and consequently we have very clear rules on the use of seat belts and booster seats in our family. (Rose & I have two children, Katie [13] and Tim [10]). We used to have a Prius, and the fact that it offered 104g of CO2, as well as 5-star Euro NCAP-rated crash protection was pretty appealing.
We have just launched the iQ, a car which is breaking new ground. It’s less than 3m long but seats three adults plus one child, and offers 99g of CO2! Sounds great, doesn’t it?
“Yes” I hear you say, “but small cars don’t always offer the same safety levels as bigger cars, and you just said safety was so important!”
Sure I did, but this is where the iQ is so, well, awesome. It has just received 5 stars in the new 2009 Euro NCAP safety assessment. The new rating considers adult, child and pedestrian protection, as well as the availability of driver assistance devices (things like stability control to you and me). So it covers more of the aspects that are important to us all: it’s about real world safety.
We know that we have to make compromises in life, and that this can be a real paradox for us. But, after so many years at Toyota, I feel pretty strongly that we have the right kind of attitude and skills to tackle this kind of paradox head-on (pardon the pun…). Small but safe, perfomant but economical, complex but recyclable… it’s exactly the kind of challenge we’re up for.
Okay, it ain’t perfect yet, but we are doing our best.
What do you think?
