Japanese manufacturers Honda are set to unveil the concept for their new small city car at next month’s Delhi Motor Show. The cleverly named “New Car Concept” (we’re assuming it’s Honda’s working title) will be manufactured in India and Thailand and is aimed at emerging markets, though there is the suggestion that it could also be sold in the West.
Honda aren’t the only manufacturer to be entering this particular part of the market. Nissan are also targeting the global small car platform with the new model of their Micra; it seems that cars which are cheap enough to manufacture and sell to emerging markets but are also sophisticated enough for Western markets are the new target for many manufacturers in the small car market.
The Green Machine trend is continuing with Japanese manufacturers Lexus entering the fray with their new hybrid, the HS 250h in the New Year. Sporting a compact frame and a resolutely hybrid design – there’s no petrol-only option – the HS 250h looks to bring hybrid emissions and fuel economy to a luxury brand, but at an affordable price.
Offering a design and build quality which will remind owners of the higher end of the Lexus brand, but at a price more fitting an entry level car, the HS 250h is a high quality machine, blending economy on the price and economy on the fuel usage with the quality and prestige that drivers have come to expect from the Lexus brand.
The new MINI Beachcomber is set to be unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show next month. This Moke-inspired number has certainly divided the MINI community like few other developments have, but it seems that all questions will be answered when it finally rolls out.
MINI aficionados are notoriously difficult to please when it comes to alterations to the classic design and the Beachcomber is the biggest modification in recent memory. With both soft and hard top options due to be made available, this new MINI will be suitable even if it’s not beach weather which, let’s be honest, it rarely is here in the UK.
Never ones to shy away from a fight, it seems that BMW are wading into the electric vehicle battlefield. The German giants are heading into next month’s Detroit Auto Show with the impossibly posy-looking Concept ActiveE, with strong hints that it may actually see production.
The Concept ActiveE is the latest piece to roll out of BMW’s Project i campaign, which is dedicated to creating low-emission city cars and follows the MINI electric car out of the door and promises “CO2-free Mobility”.
