Suzuki S-Ride concept

The S-Ride has two seats arranged longitudinally in a similar way to that of a motorbike, to blend, Suzuki claim, the fun of bikes with the convenience of cars.

S-Ride's transparent canopy hinges from its base at the foot of the A-pillars, to lift up and forward allowing occupants to get in and out, whilst the separate windscreen remains fixed. This canopy sits atop a minimalist aluminum exterior bodyshell not dissimilar in concept to the Smart Crossblade.

A neat feature inside the car is its 'Lovers Sync' function which will navigate you to the location of the person you are talking to, a useful idea when trying to meet up with a friend and surely commercially feasible, if not now then very soon.

Subaru R1E concept

The R1e is a very small, electric powered concept car based closely on the production R2 (also debuting at Tokyo) designed for single and two person urban dwellers.

The monospace design is notable for its great stance and a dynamic side feature form that grows from the side indicator repeater, integrating the door handle as it extends rearwards to wrap around into the rear lamps in a similar way to the Alfa Romeo 147. This similarity to Alfa Romeo can perhaps also be seen in the broad three piece grille graphic that Subaru are adopting as their corporate facial
identity.

The R1e interior is elegant and simple with a swathe of body color across the instrument pasnel, bisected by the HVAC and ICE (In Car Entertainment) center console section that pushes up from below to be capped by the center air vents on the top of the instrument panel.

Honda IMAS concept

Unusually for a show car, the IMAS design started as a production design program (the replacement for the Insight) but when that was suspended it became a concept car design program.

Designer Jose Wyszogrod attributed the need to have a remarkably low drag coefficient of 0.20 as limiting what he could do with the exterior design, although he was adamant that the rear boot aperture of the small coupe should not be a hatchback and so devised a clever two part opening system. As an interior designer this lack of scope for exterior design suited Jose, and it is inside that the IMAS is more innovative. Everything stems from the central frame that was inspired by a racing bicycle form, for a very structural and pared down aesthetic. Sculptural, almost bone like forms connect the drive by wire steering wheel and the transparent ultra thin information displays to the minimalist instrument panel.

Toyota NLSV concept

The NLSV (New-Life Support Vehicle) from Toyota is a tall, four meter long utility MPV concept with a low flat floor. It features a conventionally opening door on the right (driver's side) and a long electrically sliding door on the left that provides easy access to the1400mm deep interior cabin space.

The exterior design identity is 'urban tough', with a bluff nose, large (for this type of car) bumper offset and rounded angular corners to the DLO and leading edge of the bonnet. This gives the NLSV a youthful, masculine feel; the antithesis to Yaris Verso which is a conceptually similar, and similarly sized, production Toyota.

Nissan Fuga concept

Looking like a thinly disguised production car designed for the North American market (Infiniti M45 perhaps), the five meter long Fuga is based on Nissan's rear drive Skyline platform which is in part responsible for its convincing 'premium' car proportions of short front overhang, long rear overhang and 'cab back' profile. Distinct rear lamp graphics and side DLO combine with subtle, strong surfacing to further give credence to its premium car status.

The Fuga features 'hairline-finished' aluminum strips running along the roof sides and through the C-pillar into the boot surface which ingeniously highlight the DLO without being the usual simple window surrounds. A similar metal strip also runs along the side sills into the front valance, and is used for the slightly fat lipped arching upper and lower edges of the grille.

Nissan Serenity concept

The exterior design of the Serenity is most notable for its unusual, stepped DLO that breaks up an otherwise simple low MPV profile. Although sharing similar dimensions to the Nissan Fuga, the Serenity has three rows of seats, is front wheel drive and has a different type of Nissan corporate facial identity – this time a development of the 'flying wings' motif from the Primera.

Each seat in the two front rows has an Ottoman mechanism that slides out to support the occupant's lower legs, its own video monitor and a personal speaker system that flip forwards from the head restraints. The seats are reminiscent of a Charles Eames 1956 lounge chair, appropriate perhaps since this was conceived specifically as a chair to watch TV from.

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