Toyota's doing it again. Their innovative and all new car, called the iQ, may perhaps outwit the Smart Fortwo. The Toyota iQ for 2009, is a kind of a four-passenger Smart For Four. But again government hurdles will lengthen the cars arrival. The iQ needs to be significantly modified, just like the Smart was for American safety standards. Even though it has been confirmed the Toyota iQ minicar will go on sale in Japan and Europe. The Toyota iQ requires improved rear end strengthening. Some suggest eliminating the cars rear seat, making it a two-seater like the Smart ForTwo. We believe keeping the four-seat design will give those who are not fond of the Smart ForTwo's limited seating.

Another self serving motive why the iQ may never be launched here is its low price tag and fuel consumption rating. This may detract from sales of Toyota's more costly third-generation Toyota Prius. The Toyota iQ has nine air-bags, including the first car ever to have a rear-window curtain air-bag and Toyota's reports that it could be badged as a Scion and may be at next month's Los Angeles Auto Show. 

We believe that Toyota's new iQ minicar will be sold in the U.S. and hopefully sooner than later and many are saying the cars pioneering design and ground-breaking concept just may become the benchmark for small cars to come!

Outsmarting the Smart

Squeezing our 6-foot-3 frame behind the thick, sporty steering wheel of the 2009 Toyota iQ, we immediately notice just how spacious the cabin feels. Only when you're standing outside the Toyota iQ do you realize how short it is, less than 10 feet long from the tip of the front bumper to the end of the back bumper.

Due to be unveiled at the 2008 Paris Auto Show on October 2, the 2009 Toyota iQ is a kind of four-passenger Smart car. It's so innovative in its concept, packaging and design that it might just become the new yardstick for small cars.

When we drove this vision of the future here in Japan, we couldn't help but think that the massive influence of Toyota will tip the balance in favor of minimalist cars like the iQ and make them mainstream transportation instead of high-fashion indulgence.

When it goes on sale in Japan in mid-October and then Europe a couple months later, the 2009 Toyota iQ could become Japan's answer to the Fiat 500, the Smart Fortwo and Volkswagen up!

The Smart Answer ?
While we're looking at an array of iQs in every color, the car's chief engineer Hiroki Nakajima tells us, "Our aim was not to make a four-seater Smart. In order to ensure a sustainable future, there was a need for a radical change in vehicle packaging. We needed to create a breakthrough car, away from the traditional belief that small is basic."

Overlooked at its first appearance as a concept car at the 2007 Frankfurt Auto Show, the Toyota iQ reflects Toyota's awareness of the way in which Europe is leading automotive trends these days. "All you ever hear these days in Europe is people talking about CO2. It's at the forefront of every discussion about motoring," says Nakajima.

The iQ is all about reducing the size of one's automotive carbon footprint. If you think the Toyota Yaris is small, wait until you get a load of this. Toyota says the all-new iQ microcar is the smallest four-passenger car in the world. That it may be, as long as the fourth passenger is knee high to a grasshopper. Thanks to some nifty packaging, the iQ will seat three adults comfortably, but the fourth space is basically reserved for one ankle-biter.

The 2009 Toyota iQ is considerably smaller than a Yaris but marginally bigger than a Smart, measuring just 117.5 inches in length, 66.1 inches in width and 59 inches in height. It has the face of a disgruntled puppy, although it surprisingly boasts greater on-road presence than initial pictures suggest thanks to slightly flared wheel arches and blistered bumpers, which give the contours some substance. The wheelbase stretches an amazing 79 inches to maximize interior volume, although it creates arguably the world's shortest front and rear overhangs in the process.

When we asked Koichi Suga, the head of the iQ's design team, to tell us about the most difficult challenge of creating a car less than 10 feet long, he responded, "That's got to be R&D. Because the more you try to develop a car, improve its handling and its safety, the longer it gets." As he notes, such a small package seems to sacrifice not only seating space (and comfort) but also crushable impact protection.