iQ

The rest of the world has been driving Toyota's tiny iQ model for a few years, and now it comes to the U.S. wearing a Scion badge. That marketing makes sense, as the iQ is a risky sell to an American public that often scoffs at anything smaller than an SUV. Scion serves as an incubator for Toyota's more esoteric offerings.

But the iQ's sci-fi looks fit in perfectly with the Scion model lineup, and its likely buyers also fit the Scion demographic. The car will work well for young urbanites, its small size making it … Read more

Toyota's tiniest car could also be its first electric car in the U.S., according to news reports. The carmaker told its dealership franchise owners last month that an electric version of its Scion iQ is scheduled to hit showroom floors in 2012.

The Scion iQ is a pint-size city car currently being sold in Japan and the EU under the Toyota brand. Using a 1L engine, the iQ achieves an impressive 65 mpg. Toyota introduced the car to the North American market last year, and doubled down on the city car this year by revealing an electric prototype … Read more

Escort is a brand that's probably best known for its line of radar and laser detectors, but it got its toes wet in the world of GPS with its Entourage line of GPS vehicle locators last year. Today, Escort has stepped further into the world of GPS with its first portable navigation device, the Passport iQ (unless you count the SmartMirror, which is hardly portable). And because old habits die hard, they've crammed a radar and laser detector into its chassis for good measure.

Superficially, the Passport iQ looks like a standard portable navigation device. It's got a 5-inch touch screen, displays 3D Navteq-supplied maps, and mounts to the windshield with a suction-cup mount. The unit features spoken turn-by-turn directions, graphic lane guidance, and--like many GPS navigators we've tested--displays the current speed limit where available. However, where normal GPS devices may offer the ability to overlay POI icons for gas stations, hotels, and the like, the Passport iQ is able to overlay Escort's Defender Database icons marking red light cameras, speed cameras, and known speed traps. A 90-day trial of the Defender Database is included with the unit, after which a subscription will be required.

Things get interesting when Escort mentions that it has integrated a fully functional radar and laser detector based on its Passport 9500ix detector.… Read more

Aston Martin made official what many industry watchers had already assumed; that it will be begin producing the tiny-but-luxurious Cygnet in 2011.

The Cygnet is a rebadged Toyota iQ equipped with the same 97hp 1.3-liter engine but outfitted with a high-end, sartorial interior that's been enveloped with hand-stitched leather. News sources are pegging the Cygnet with a price tag somewhere between $45,000 to $75,000, according to InsideLine.

It's a drastic break from Aston Martin's current line up of performance cars, but adding a fuel-sipper will help the British carmaker comply with tightening European emissions … Read more

Aston Martin has released photos of its upcoming Cygnet subcompact. We've seen this one before, but now it's completed and ready to roll. The Cygnet is based on the Toyota iQ city car, but with the face and accoutrement of a DB9. Unfortunately, I'm also fairly certain that there will be no power upgrades to go with the visual refresh.

I have to admit, it's a cute little car and the Aston features seem to fit nicely in a Super Deformed sort of way.

Inside, the Cygnet retains, for the most part, the iQ's cabin … Read more

For years, style was absent without an excuse from American subcompacts. But the days of slab-sided, no-frills hatchbacks may soon be history.

For decades, something was missing in the small cars designed, built and sold in the United States. It was gone for so long that most American consumers probably didn't know what it was.

But to Ralph Gilles, Chrysler Group's chief designer, the missing ingredient was obvious. U.S. subcompacts lacked emotional appeal.

"Small cars of the past were not necessarily done with passion," he said.

Generations of Detroit designers seemed to say: No one buys a small car for its styling, so why bother? Uninspired, appliancelike econoboxes? What else did you expect?

American subcompacts had none of the attributes found in the cool, quirky and even elegant small cars created elsewhere in the world, from the original BMC Mini to the first Peugeot 205 to the modern Citroen C3.

U.S. automakers were forced to churn out small cars to raise corporate average fuel economy averages, so they could keep selling big trucks. Small-car design? An oxymoron.

But consumer preference has shifted -- the result of higher gasoline prices, new fuel-efficiency standards and concern about climate change.

"Small cars and vehicles powered by four-cylinder engines have been on a steady increase since 2004," said Ford Motor Co. sales analyst George Pipas.

U.S. fleets must average 35.5 mpg by 2016, compared with 25.3 mpg this year. Combined with stricter emissions standards, it means the number of small-car nameplates for sale in the United States will increase.

And when a market segment gets crowded, automakers must rely on styling to set their vehicles apart from the crowd.

"It's not business as usual for small cars here anymore," said Moray Callum, Ford Motor's design director for cars.

The expanding lineup of new small cars means styling will get a lot more creative and appealing, just as it did with mid-sized cars recently. (Think of the modern Chevrolet Malibu, the new Ford Taurus and the current Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.)… Read more

With its short wheelbase and light weight, the Toyota iQ is sure to be a tossable little compact on the road, but how would it fair as a writing instrument?

Using a motion capture camera mounted with a bird's-eye view of the canvas, stunt driver Stef Vancampenhoudt proceeded to precisely write the all of letters of the alphabet using the iQ. Designers Pierre and Damien of Pleaseletmedesign then took the motion capture data and created a Toyota iQ font (which can be downloaded from here).

Check the video below to see exactly how they did it.

(via i love typography … Read more

As the day of the big game draws closer, households everywhere are planning menus, inviting guests, and figuring out just how many TVs it takes to actually host a successful Super Bowl party. However, some of us prefer to keep things a bit less extravagant, instead opting for a small gathering as opposed to an all-out affair. Years of study (42 to be exact) have shown that the optimum number of invitees for a Super Bowl party is eight people. Large screen or small, this number (which coincides nicely with the amount of previous games) is scientifically proven (or arbitrarily … Read more

PARIS--More than one European carmaker is on the verge of doing something it wouldn't have considered a few months ago.

They're thinking of selling very small and fuel-efficient cars to Americans--cars designed and developed with only Europe in mind.

Two small cars that debuted at the Paris show are under consideration for the United States. One is the Audi A1 Sportback Concept, which is about 10 inches shorter than Audi's A3. The production version could hit U.S. shores.

"A year ago, I would have said no," said Peter Schwarzenbauer, Audi's worldwide sales and … Read more