Going green in Tokyo

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Eco-friendly motoring isn't going to fight for top attention among new car releases any time soon, but its solid presence ? often right alongside its fire-breathing kin on the showstand ? is not just newsworthy, but ever more significant in the face of worldwide eco legislation set to enfoce clean motoring the world over.

And its presence was once again strongy felt at a Tokyo Motor Show that seemed to balance high performance off quite well with clean driving messages as diverse as they were significant...

The week started with drives in all Toyota's growing and already diverse hybrid petrol range at its Fuji Raceway at the foot of that famous mountain. A new plug-in Prius (that allows you to charge your car up off the mains overnight to complement the car's own current-generating characteristics) and a hybrid drive Lexus LS600H were the headline cars. They stood out among a wide variety of vehicles in a 12-car and growing range of petrol-electric cars that includes everything from MPVS, SUVs and sedans from both Toyota and Lexus.

Showday brought a glimpse of the little Toyota IQ four-person minicar with half the fuel consumption of Prius, a new lightweight carbonfibre plastic body costruction concept derived from Toyota's F1 car, the stunning looking FT-HS high performance hybrid concept, and Lexus' next hybrid SUV among even more new hybrids for the local market.

Daihatsu showed a neat little hybrid concept, Subaru unveiled a car with a lithium battery pack with a 200km range capable of recharging in 15 minutes by means of a special charger or overnight on mains. Another Subaru co-developed with Mitsubishi is an electric car called Switch.

Mitsubishi showed various takes on its Intelligent Electric Vehicle and Honda displayed its Accord hybrid racer fresh from the Nurburgring 24-hour and its latest FCX fuel cell car among other green tech and ideas. Mazda embraced its rotary history in a hydrogen hybrid wankel powered 5.

BMW showed its X6 Active Hybrid alongside a hydrogen powered 7 Series and Mercedes-Benz' co-developed Bluetech Hybrid range of diesel-electrics is rapidly spreading across its entire everyday range. Those shared the floor with Merc's next-tech F700 complete with dual-fuel diesotto engine and a fuel cell powered B class called FCell.

Volvo's plug-in hybrid has a petrol engine only to charge the batteries that power its electric motor that ranked among various other takes on all the above themes, future fuel ideas and other green concepts, ideas and brainwaves ? some fresh, some old and others at various levels of advancement...

One thing remains clear though ? every man and his dog in the motor industry is working flat out at solving the conundrum of saving the planet.