Ah. I hadn't seen they decided on a name yesterday.

Nobody knows what it will look like, but I don't expect it to change all that much. The usual concept to production differences such as side mirrors and real headlights/tail lights. I think that goofy wedge hood will stay as well as the ridiculously huge side vents up front. Why does an essentially electric car need so much ventilation?

$30k is even more retarded. And still $40k for a Corolla that runs on hydrogen with no range benefits and an infrastructure that almost doesn't exist. Those 100 filling stations in Japan probably won't be finished before the car is released. I really don't see a similar subsidy in the US when it comes here. I'm having trouble figuring out why a government should foot the bill for nearly 50% of a car's price. Let the company take the risk and reap the reward or failure.

I don't know why electric vehicles still get $7500 after all the cost cutting measures have gotten them affordable. If you are lucky enough to live in Georgia you can get a brand new Leaf for something like $15k with stacked state and national subsidies. Factor in the difference in fuel cost/maintenance and it's actually cheaper to buy and operate the leaf than an econobox that is not as well equipped. Assuming ~12k miles a year you'd be making up about $1200 a year driving the Leaf. Without subsidies a $28k Leaf vs $15k econobox takes about 11 years to equalize. That's close enough to warrant dropping subsidies, IMO, since you are within reasonable expectation of the lifetime of the car. At that point, it's the company's job to get the information across to the buyers.

One thing I've been wondering lately... where are the hybrid minivans? We have cars, CUVs, and SUVs, but no minivans. Seems like that would be an easy place to pick up sales on a vehicle class that is not exactly fuel efficient. Tops of the list is Honda Odyssey at 19/28. You'd think there is plenty of room, but perhaps people are too pre-occupied with seats that fold into the floor and built in vacuum cleaners to sacrifice that for battery storage.

Closest thing we have to a hybrid minivan would be the Prius V, I suppose.

Wow, just learned why Japanese horns try to sound so cute.  They actually use their horns to signal someone to cut in front of them!

This is crayzee! http://www.carscoops.com/2014/08/watch-what-japanese-drivers-do-when-you.html

Man, if you flash your high-beams at someone here in SoCal, it means you want to be shot in the face.  Hazards flashing means you just pwn'd their sorry ass.  Viva La difference!

Anyone else find the new Miata kind of fugly?  Looks like a Suzuki cappuccino got raped by an S2000.

I kinda like it. From the front the eyes look a little too slanty