Japanese Cars News Roundup 11 November 2016
Once again, it is time for the latest and greatest news from Japan’s World of Mighty Motoring Manufacturers. Buckle up and get ready to be well read on what’s been achieved, what’s in progress, and what the future holds for the automotive industry in the Land of The Rising Sun. Check these tidbits out:
Toyota Surprise WEC 6 Hours of Fuji Victory
Though a long time competitor in the World Endurance Championship, Toyota has not seen a win in the endurance racing category in over two years. That streak was broken on Sunday, October 16 2016, when drivers Kamui Kobayashi, Mike Conway, and Stephane Sarrazin snatched victory from primary competition Audi by a mere 1.4 seconds. Their champion Toyota TS505 Hybrid kept the pressure on throughout the endurance competition, but the credit for the win belongs to their pit crew and some shrewd tactical decisions in the final stages of the race.
Short-fueling their car during the second-to-last pit stop allowed the Toyota Motorsport GmbH team to push forward into second place ahead of Porsche, and then a decision not to swap out car No.6’s tire during their last and final pit stop gave them just the edge they needed to clinch the title and their championship win. Driver Kobayashi had initially been against skipping the tire swap as he did not feel the risk was worth the potential gain of 10 seconds, but in the end his decision to trust his crew was what delivered up the win.
Audi’s No.8 car, an R18 e-tron Quattro came closest to shutting Toyota out of their win, but their lead throughout the race never exceeded 10 seconds, and they crossed the finish line a scant 1.1 seconds behind Toyota’s No. 6 racer. Porsche’s 919 Hybrid took third place after holding second place throughout the majority of the race before dropping back in position due to performance issues and an aerodynamics issue that cost them precious track time.
Toyota Motorsport GmbH is currently celebrating their hard fought victory, and the team looks forward to the next endurance championship with eager anticipation as they fight to maintain their title.
The Ferrari-powered Toyota GT4586: The Japanese-Italian Frankenstein’s Monster
You know, you have to hand it to those outside the box thinkers who look at small drift cars like Toyota’s Model 86 and say “Let’s put a Ferrari V8 in that.” Why? Because it’s there.
Huddy MotorSports, the Toyota 86 “that guy” car crew, decided to give this insane concept a try. The results have been documented in a series of videos on which the GT4586 immolates its tires, flies sideways like it is on hubless wheels, and generally behaves like the outlaw badboy you would it expect it to be for a drift car with a massively powerful V8 powerplant.
According to the team at Huddy, this power-crazed engine swap was a far more complicated process than anyone imagined. Not only was the engine with 8 cylinders (plus electronics) bigger than the 86’s standard 4-cylinder, 205 horsepower engine, but it was also from a mid-engine Ferrari Italia 458. This fact meant that the engine actually faced in completely the opposite direction from how it mounts in a front engine car like the 86. Thus, the exhaust from the headers on this monster drifter feed forward to exhausts forward of the front wheels. Yes, really!
From there, according to Huddy, it just gets more interesting. To accommodate the bigger engine, the entire cradle had to be removed and rebuilt around the massive Ferrari V8, and both the windshield wiper tray and a part of the windshield also had to be removed in order to give sufficient clearance to the engine intake runners. Instead of a Ferrari transmission, the Huddy team used a five-speed sequential racing gearbox that would fit inside the 86’s more diminutive frame.
Finally, Huddy installed a full body cage, and set the front suspension for greater steering lock to handle all the crazy drifting. The hood-less finished product looks like something that would beat up most Japanese drift cars and take their lunch money. It has the added intimidation factor of the classic Ferrari banshee-like wail and the ability to make flames shoot from the forward exhaust system. Yeah. You read that right. No two-ways about it: this Frankensteined drifter is one mean machine.
Office On-The-Go: Nissan’s e-NV200 WORKSPACe
With the real estate market currently completely obsessed with tiny housing and practical compact living solutions, it should come as no surprise that automotive manufacturers are starting to offer their own living and workspace solutions.
The idea of a mobile apartment is nothing new: few millennial career professionals or otherwise want to exhaust their finances by shelling out ridiculous sums of money in exchange for tiny, under-maintained, decades-behind-the-tech-curve apartments that will fix them in one place for years at a time. Furthermore, with the housing market currently being what it is around the world, few young people would even be able to consider buying a house, much less afford a mortgage and the upkeep on a home of their own. That’s where vans like Nissan’s e-NV200 WORKSPACe come into the picture.
Despite the fact that it is not a full-service living quarters solution, the WORKSPACe makes an excellent mobile extension of an existing home or apartment, and an even better means of escaping traditional office spaces. Essentially, the WORKSPACe is a fully functional and feature-rich mobile office space that is the brainchild of Nissan and U.K. based Studio Hardie intended to cater to the current business trend of “hot-desking”.
The interior of Nissan’s WORKSPACe is not unlike that of a luxury office space. The fold out desk and massive wall-mounted touch screen computer display is situated opposite two comfortable work chairs. There is also a working mini-fridge, a charging station for your mobile devices, and an industrial coffee machine capable of pumping out everything from lattes to your standard brewed coffee. The WORKSPACe also features a hardwood floor with a pull out deck should you get the urge to soak up some sun while you are working. Lighting and environmental controls as well as audio and video features can all be controlled from your smartphone or tablet. Top that all off with a folding bike rack on one of the rear doors, and you have everything you could possibly want from an office on the go.
While WORKSPACe is currently a one-and-done concept vehicle, the idea shows promise for those in search of hybrid or all-electric spaces to replace their current living or working accommodations. Nissan is definitely on the cutting edge of future-thinking, and it will be interesting to see if an all-in-one solution like this becomes the future not only of how we work and live, but also how we maintain a work/life balance as well.
Japan's Automakers Accelerate Autonomous Driving
Car makers in Japan are currently increasing their efforts to create an autonomous intelligent transportation system that will make them a world leader in innovation and technology by the year 2020.
Their current development focus relies heavily on autonomous and connected-car tech they have been working on for the better part of a decade. This movement towards transportation automation is expected to pick up dramatically next year now that the major manufacturers in Japan have been given the requisite permits for unmanned driving tests in low-traffic zones and on public roads.
The government and Japanese industry are focused intently on a deadline of the year 2020, as this is when Tokyo is scheduled to host the Summer Olympic Games. Japan hopes to be able to present a showcase of its next-generation technological prowess in conjunction with arrival of the Olympic Games, demonstrating transportation futuretech such as self-driving cars and greener powertrains for vehicles and mass transit.
This transportation upgrade is also part of the ongoing efforts by Japan’s government to reduce or eliminate the number of traffic fatalities each year to zero by the year 2030. The manufacture and development of these new technologies will help stimulate local job growth in the transportation sector, and help give Japanese automakers a competitive edge overseas.
Many speculators are interested to see where this consolidation of government, academic, and industrial resources will take Japan in the decades to come, but regardless of the outcome, it can only serve to advance the cause of safer and more energy efficient cars worldwide.
MItsubishi Back Out Of The Doghouse
Mitsubishi Motors Corp. resumed sales of eight models from their product line that had been suspended after it was discovered that the car maker had made overstated claims regarding the actual mileage readings for fuel economy for its cars.
Japan’s sixth largest car manufacturer came forward earlier this year with the admission that they had falsified mileage data on twelve models, including the Pajero and Outlander SUV, damaging the company’s credibility and reputation throughout the auto industry.
This suspension for SUV mileage readings was the second suspension issued this year for Mitsubishi, the first being a 2-month suspension of sales for their four newest mini-vehicle models in early 2016, two of which were being produced for Nissan Motor Co.
Market value of Mitsubishi Motors dropped sharply since the initial discovery of mileage cheating early in the year, prompting a plea for financial assistance to Nissan, who agreed to buy controlling interest in Mitsubishi for $2.2 billion.
As Japan comprises roughly twenty percent of all Mitsubishi’s market share, the two suspensions have hit the company hard. Hopefully with Nissan’s financial assistance and guidance, Mitsubishi Motors will soon see a much needed resurgence in growth and innovation.
And we mean technological innovation ... not new ways to cheat the system.
