Hybrid Car - More Fun with Less Gas

Toyota unveiled a new concept on the Geneva, Switzerland Auto Show on March 6, 2007. First thing that comes to mind: Does it look like Prius to you or what? I would guess Prius’s 0.26 aerodynamic drag coefficient is hard to beat which is going to dictate the shape of the future fuel saving cars. Let’s see what else is nice about the new hybrid:

As of this writing little is know about the most important things - drivetrain and batteries, and I think there are none at the time as this is not a drivable concept. Nice looking static concept. No spectacular animated first appearance as Chevy Volt - what’s with the lack of PR juice, Toyota?

Anyways, Hybrid X was definitely designed just as an eye candy - observe the lack of windshield wipers - but it does look super nice. Kudos to Toyota designers for picking up on some of the new energy saving trends - LED headlights. I personally can’t wait until I can drive a car with this kind of headlights. LEDs nicely fit into the sleek aerodynamic design as they produce a very concentrated beam of light and so do not need a lot of space for the reflector, just a little glass lens. In fact, all the illumination in the car is based on LEDs, which is a great move indeed.

Another interesting feature of the car is the separate rear seats that can swivel 12 degrees so the passengers can choose between the scenery and a nice conversation. On the other hand, it will be hard to break the average user’s natural desire to see a solid back row seat for three people as we’ve all been conditioned to see it in a car all our lives.

I will be watching the development of this concept with great interest and hope it hits the road as soon as possible. Maybe even sooner than Volt (2012) - we shall see.

Read this post at autoblog.com - it has the most detailed press release to date on Hybrid X.

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