JDMpire

I’ve been a huge fan of the Mitsubishi i ever since I had one as a rental in 2007. It was extremely peppy for a 660cc kei car, and the styling was unbearably cute. Compared to the Subaru Stella CVT I rented on another day, it was a Lexus. The i-MIEV has a different, all-electric powertrain, but the motion is still directed where it counts, through the rear wheels.

But if I was the fuzz, I might want to hand over my badge and gun before driving one of these. While they’ll be used as minipatos (mini-patrols) on surface streets and leave the high-speed pursuits to the Mitsu GTOs and Subaru Impreza WRX STIs, you’ll still have to face down the occasional peace disturber, and this thing is only slightly more intimidating than Hello Kitty.

[Autoblog Green]

The seven most powerful men and one woman who lead the eight most powerful nations on the planet and make decisions that affect the lives of all of its inhabitants are meeting at a secret evil ice cave somewhere in Hokkaido right now. As part of the G8 Summit, Japan’s automakers are showing off their fleet of green vehicles. I can’t believe this, but I’m at a loss for what the first one on the left is, but the rest are the Subaru Stella electric vehicle, Honda FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, and the Mazda RX-8 and Premacy hydrogen rotaries. Toyota donated 78 cars, ranging from a hydrogen-powered Kluger/Highlander to Crown and Lexus LS600h hybrids. Mitsubishi contributed i-MIEVs while Nissan showed off X-Trial clean diesels and Suzuki supplied SX4 FCVs.

[Image: Subaru]

At the ongoing Beijing Motor Show Mitsubishi president has announced the development of a world platform car with kei exterior dimensions. In Japan, the standard kei 660cc maximum engine size will be abided by but the rest of the world may get a 1000cc mill. I was excited about the RWD notion but most likely it’ll be the next-gen i, which is RWD but only because the engine is transversely mounted between the rear wheels. No Suzuki Cappuccino here.

[Source: Autoblog]