Autocar - First for car news and reviews

Toyota will be thinking big but showing small at next month’s Geneva motor show.
It will be giving centre stage to the ground-breaking Toyota iQ, it’s new three-metre city car. The iQ appeared at the 2007 Frankfurt show as a concept, and will be shown at Geneva in production-ready form; in other words, exactly how it will be when it shows up on British roads in early 2009.
However, it will also be showing a small 4x4 – a sub-RAV4 model designed to rival the forthcoming Mini Crossman and S...Read the full article

 

The Toyota iQ is very funky.. looks very similar to a Smart with a similar sub-structure beneath just with 'fleshed out' panels to modernise the design. The Urban Cruiser is utterly dull.. shows how weak Toyota design is and how it fails so miserably when they're not cribbing European designs from Mercedes, VW, Audi and Smart!!

Isn't it about time the worlds No.1. car company (by volume) developed some integrity and indeed identity in its design department?

JJBoxster:

Isn't it about time the worlds No.1. car company (by volume) developed some integrity and indeed identity in its design department?

 

No - I don't agree.

scummyplum:

JJBoxster:

Isn't it about time the worlds No.1. car company (by volume) developed some integrity and indeed identity in its design department?

 

No - I don't agree.

Another constructive comment from, er, Scummyplum. Why do you bother?

Whats wrong with the design JJ?

It looks (as a small car should) cute and peppy!

Why not get the Smart or Aygo.

Japanese don't do well when they don't copy the Germans or Italians!

 Although VW Tiguan is as appealing as the Toyota sub Rav4 4x4!

Toyota's almost identical copying of the new Smart For Two reminds me of the law suits against Chinese car firms copying the Smart For Two, BMW X5 etc.  Japanese own styling is bland and wierd.  Their real successes are loose copies of european designs and it's been going on for decades.  If a law was passed to ban bland cars, then the Japanese car manufacturers would be forced to shut their doors as hardly any of their cars would be considered stylish.