Concept Vehicles steal the thunder at Tokyo Motor Show
Prototypes promote safety, comfort
Steve Sturgess
Editor
The Tokyo Motor Show is world’s apart from North American commercial vehicle shows. For one thing, it alternates: cars and motorcycles one year, trucks the next.
That all changes this year, say organizers. They’re dropping commercial vehicles altogether, leaving the field free for the show organized by the Japanese New Truck Magazine.
But back to the official Tokyo Motor Show, which was held late last year, just before the holidays. Whether cars or commercial trucks, it is a showcase for prototype and concept vehicles of all kinds – and that includes heavy-duty trucks.
And, even in its final commercial vehicle year, it drew an enormous domestic audience – 248,600 visitors poking their heads in 113 exhibits over a six-day period.
Of course it was the concepts that really pulled in the crowds.
At the 2004 show, Hino – the Toyota commercial vehicle subsidiary – showed the most innovation, all under the heading of Advanced Safety Vehicle (ASV). Among them was the very sleek Concept L, a long-haul freight truck based on a tandem-tandem chassis that is a common configuration on Japanese highways. Features highlighted on this round-fronted straight truck were repeated on other Hino concepts, all designed to mitigate the effect of an accident, either with other vehicles or with pedestrians.
Omni-directional monitoring systems – visibility enhancers and other warning systems – included such components as cameras and rear and side obstacle warning systems. Driver comfort was a top priority in this and other Hino concepts with “large cruiser type comfortable cabins” and slide open/close body panels to make the driver workload as light as possible.
The same swoopy styling was repeated on a concept ASV city delivery truck and to a lesser extent on a production-ready next-generation Hino Profia heavy-duty tractor. This is the highway tractor that is Hino’s top of the range. Demonstrated in its show form, it Demonstrated in its show form, it was equipped with boxy side skirts that completely enclose the drive axle and wheels. Under the sleek exterior this Profia featured “pre-crash safety technology,” such as stability control and nighttime pedestrian monitoring. Other features included a front-view recording system allowing for video playback after sudden heavy braking or in the last seconds leading up to an accident.
Other Hino exhibits keyed on hybrid technologies with no fewer than six prototypes ranging from city buses through service vehicles to an interesting hybridized model 165, the conventional medium-duty chassis that is starting to appear on American roads.
Also of interest on the Hino show exhibit was a Scania R420, the Scandinavian tall cabover that is being introduced to Japanese highways as a collaborative effort between Hino and Scania.
Other European trucks making inroads in Japan include Volvo’s FH and the Mercedes-Benz Actros, both complex tall cabovers. The two are being distributed through their own dealerships, which is odd for the Actros because DaimlerChrysler has an ownership position in Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Fuso. The Actros was away on the Mercedes-Benz booth, removed from the spectacular Fuso display where the concept truck, appropriately named “Concept” was center stage.
This undeniably attractive two-axle cabover features all-enveloping bodywork and wide single drive tires. Special lighting, stability control and all wheel disc brakes add to safety, along with interior design that cocoons the driver and rider. As with many Japanese concepts, high visibility and pedestrian detection are included as an integral part of the safety package.
Like Hino, Fuso showcased its engine technology to meet Japan’s 2005 emissions mandate, with both cooled exhaust gas recirculation and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) featured on the same engine. This is a combined technology developed by Fuso and DaimlerChrysler to optimize engine performance and economy while meeting Japan’s new emissions levels due to hit this coming October.
SCR is the urea-based exhaust aftertreatment that strips the NOx down to water on nitrogen gas.
Elsewhere in the three-hall exhibit area, Nissan Diesel showcased its engine technology for the new emissions regs, based on urea SCR and showing the AdBlue pump that will be the dispenser for the SCR solution at truckstops and fueling stations around the country. Installed in the Quon heavy-duty trucks, this Final Low Emission New Diesel System (FLENDS) is complemented by other low-emission technologies deployed on smaller UD vehicles such as the direct injection of natural gas.
The Japanese are big on technology: other examples at UD – and also demonstrated at rival manufacturers’ exhibits – included automated mechanical transmissions and cab designs to sooth the savage driver with ergonomic controls, soft fabrics and air bag supplementary safety restraints.
Among the heavy truck brands, Isuzu was also well represented, though without much new to draw the visitor to view its broad range of trucks that is far wider that we see here in the United States. Interesting, though, was the top-of-the-line Gigamax truck tractor featuring a wheelchair lift for the driver.
Access for disabled people was addressed in several locations around the show, which had as part of its theme “barrier-free” vehicles for the disabled. The exhibits address Japanese concerns about its aging population.
In addition to heavy-duty commercial vehicles, there were plenty of the light duty trucks and vans – critical to the Japanese urban distribution and to the small city-based businesses. Common is the need to get into and out of incredibly constricted streets. As a result, there were all kinds of small commercials that quite frankly bring a smile to your face. So while you may think trucks like the recently introduced Hino mediums or the Isuzu NPR are pretty small, you really haven’t seen anything until you look over a vehicle like the Suzuki concept “Alto Heart Stand” flower-delivery truck.
Where manufacturers were displaying their unique solutions to the upcoming Japanese emissions, a nearby hotel was the scene for an international group discussing harmonization of the different emissions standards in Japan, Europe and North America. Chief executives from most of the world’s leading truck manufacturers contributed, including Jorma Halonen from Volvo, Andreas Renschler from DaimlerChrysler, Iveco’s Jose-Maria Alapont, Isuzu’s Yoshinori Ida and Nissan Diesel’s Iwao Nakamura. All met to discuss ways of bringing the three developed nations’ standards to a single, global emissions requirement that would achieve the clean air aims while significantly reducing the costs of compliance with different standards.
By all accounts, good progress was made and, despite some intransigence by our own Environmental Protection Agency, there may be a worldwide emissions standard in place within a decade.
That should reduce the cost of compliance for all manufacturers, potentially lowering the costs to truck customers worldwide every time an emissions hurdle is cleared.
