xcel
07-27-2007, 04:25 PM
"Japanese thinking about driving cars has changed a lot. It's no longer a big status symbol. It's more about getting from place to place." (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003808754_webminicars27.html?syndication=rss)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2007_Suzuki_MR_Wagon_Sport.jpgHans Greimel - AP - July 27, 2007
Suzuki's Wagon R has not only been Japan's best-selling minicar for the past three years, it is the country's best-selling car, period. MR Wagon consists of a 660cc. - 3 Cylinder Turbocharged 64hp ICE mated to a 4-speed automatic. The MR Wagon Sport sells for a little over $10K US Dollars.
TOKYO - Japanese carmakers are once more proving that small sells big.
After first pioneering the gas-sipping compact, then subcompact, the country's auto companies are scoring again with another downsizing — the so-called "minicar."
Tiny, cheap and super fuel-efficient, minicars are essentially motorcycle-sized engines on four wheels. But demand for these runty runabouts is anything but petite. Last year, minicars racked record sales in Japan and now account for more than a third of all new cars sold annually here. The automakers have no immediate plans for mass export of the minicars, but some analysts predict they may eventually catch on in developing economies like India and China.
At a time of soaring oil prices, it's little surprise Japanese drivers are turning to more wallet-friendly rides, just as Americans are abandoning their lunky sport utility vehicles. But perhaps only in a country famed for its "small-is-beautiful" culture of pocket electronics and bonsai trees could the trade-ins be so diminutive.
Known as "kei," or light, cars in Japanese, minis are limited to an engine size of up to 660 cubic centimeters — less than half the size of a Honda Civic — and restricted by law to being no bigger than 11.2 feet long and 5 feet wide … http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003808754_webminicars27.html?syndication=rss
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/2007_Suzuki_MR_Wagon_Sport.jpgHans Greimel - AP - July 27, 2007
Suzuki's Wagon R has not only been Japan's best-selling minicar for the past three years, it is the country's best-selling car, period. MR Wagon consists of a 660cc. - 3 Cylinder Turbocharged 64hp ICE mated to a 4-speed automatic. The MR Wagon Sport sells for a little over $10K US Dollars.
TOKYO - Japanese carmakers are once more proving that small sells big.
After first pioneering the gas-sipping compact, then subcompact, the country's auto companies are scoring again with another downsizing — the so-called "minicar."
Tiny, cheap and super fuel-efficient, minicars are essentially motorcycle-sized engines on four wheels. But demand for these runty runabouts is anything but petite. Last year, minicars racked record sales in Japan and now account for more than a third of all new cars sold annually here. The automakers have no immediate plans for mass export of the minicars, but some analysts predict they may eventually catch on in developing economies like India and China.
At a time of soaring oil prices, it's little surprise Japanese drivers are turning to more wallet-friendly rides, just as Americans are abandoning their lunky sport utility vehicles. But perhaps only in a country famed for its "small-is-beautiful" culture of pocket electronics and bonsai trees could the trade-ins be so diminutive.
Known as "kei," or light, cars in Japanese, minis are limited to an engine size of up to 660 cubic centimeters — less than half the size of a Honda Civic — and restricted by law to being no bigger than 11.2 feet long and 5 feet wide … http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003808754_webminicars27.html?syndication=rss