Honda CR-Z - Endless Joy Fundamentals Revealed

Motoring Channel Staff - 12/October/2007

Tokyo, Japan — Honda Motor Co has released initial details of its new "Endless joy of mobility on our earth" theme to be launched at the 40th Tokyo Motor Show from October 27 to November 11, 2007.

Honda will display a variety of advanced environmental technologies such as CO2 emissions reduction, in particular in its new CR-Z next-generation lightweight sports model. Equipped with Honda's petrol-electric hybrid system, the CR-Z (quaintly named Compact Renaissance Zero) is Honda's futuristic venture into the low-footprint, environmentally aware market.

The CR-Z sports an over-sized grill with a high-performance look, and tube-shaped rear combination lamps to ensure good rearward visibility. It also uses LED headlights and cool fin-shaped sub-lights along with 19-inch wheels to give a performance feel.

Honda says its goal was to create an all-new sporty feel, and has used a mesh material on all interiors to convey a light, sophisticated feel. In the cockpit, the dials combine advanced recognition technology in a piece of cool glass artwork, to give what it calls "a futuristic and exhilarating feeling".

Update: The news is in - Honda has confirmed that it will build the CR-Z. Though nothing has been set in concrete, the car is likely to be on sale by 2010. It'll be powered by a hybrid petrol-electric engine: CR-Z stands for Compact Renaissance – Zero.

"Hybrids have always been seen as niche products, and hybrid car design has mostly been based around practicality and versatility," said John Kingston, who is the Environment Manager at Honda in the UK.

"The CR-Z Concept looks stunning, and shows that green cars can be sexy and exciting – but also minimise environmental impact.

"The fact that we will be producing cars like this – and the global hybrid – proves that hybrid cars are becoming key volume products within our range. All of this means that Honda will be selling over 1/4 million hybrids a year by 2009," stated Mr Kingston.

Also pushing the Endless Joy theme will be the PUYO, a fuel cell vehicle design based on out-of-box thinking - and it certainly looks like it. PUYO is a Japanese word that expresses the sensation of touching a soft body to convey a warm, friendly impression and create a usable design with the feel of an adorable pet. Wow.

Developed from the concept of a cornerless, ‘Seamless Soft Box', the design goal was to bring ‘clean', ‘safe' and ‘fun' functionality in an environmentally responsible, people-friendly minimalist design that uses ultra-high efficiency fuel cell technology to keep the greeneies happy. 

This might all sound a bit weird, but in practice it seems to work, with the PUYO's ‘gel body' built from soft materials that offer real-world safety. Moreover, the body glows to give feedback on the vehicle's mechanical and operating condition, giving a more intimate relationship between people and their cars. This really does sound like a pet . . . .

Inside, the PUYO's interior is designed to be people-friendly with a feeling of transparency. Features such as an instrument panel monitor, controls that take advantage of the elastic qualities of cloth to rise up when the vehicle starts up, luminous fluid meter displays, and a joystick for intuitive operation are all designed to gently support occupants' senses and sensibilities. The PUYO is not your average car, that's for sure.

Back in today's world, Honda will also display  a model of the i-DTEC next-generation diesel engine, first announced in September at the Frankfurt Motor Show, which improves on previous environmental and performance benchmarks. In addition, a "Next Energy" display will showcase Honda's latest designs, including technology for producing bio-ethanol from rice straw, and next-generation thin-film solar cells, due to hit the Japanese market in the near future.