Toyota IQ concept 2009

has developed an all-new, innovative compact-vehicle architecture. First seen on the new iQ, the tiny front-engine four-seat car that's barely a foot longer than a smart fortwo and goes on sale in Europe and Japan this winter, this architecture will form the basis for the next-generation Yaris, a seven-seat microvan, and a hybrid to challenge the CY 2009 Honda Insight.

The iQ's chief engineer, Hiroki Nakajima, says there are six major packaging innovations in the new range of cars:

• The differential has been moved to the front side of the engine, which is itself canted forward. This has the effect of moving the wheels forward and with them the driver's feet by nearly 5 in.


• A new steering rack is mounted high on the firewall. To accommodate this, an all-new wiper motor and mechanism had to be built.
• The fuel tank is a flat, book-thin reservoir under the rear passengers' feet.
• The climate-control unit has been made more compact (though not de-powered) and its blower moved from ahead of the passenger to above the unit. This allowed an asymmetric dash to be created, which lets the front passenger slide forward and donate more space to the one behind.
• The seatbacks have a strong perimeter frame but ultrathin centers, creating more rear-seat knee room.
• Repositioning the engine ancillaries around the suspension allows a turning radius of just 154 in.

All this was expensive, requiring numerous new components in place of the usual generics: differential, fuel pump and sender, wiper system, HVAC, seats, and door and window systems. It perhaps explains why it hasn't been done before and why Toyota will need to defray the commodity costs across several high-volume lines of cars.

That need for volume production is why the iQ is all-steel. It's heavy for its size at 1900 lb, because the crash structures are sized for a seven-seater and a weightier hybrid. There are 12 airbags in the iQ, including rear windshield bags because the rear passengers are so close to the back of the car.

In the 2011 Yaris, the packaging improvements will make for a spacious subcompact to take the fight to the Honda Fit. Toyota will have the iQ-derived small hybrid on sale about a year after the next-generation Prius makes its debut. The company intends to build a million hybrids a year from 2010.