The Debuts of the 2025 Japan Mobility Show

The artist formerly known as Tokyo Motor Show is well under way as Japan's car industry gave its state of the nation address last week, looking ahead into 2026 and beyond. As nearby China has increasingly overtaken it with confidently designed value-for-money electric vehicles, Japan is ready to punch back... somehow. In some corners this means confidently designed EVs of their own – including a race to productionise solid-state batteries before anyone else – but there's plenty else going on besides and an open question about whether the future will really be EV-only. Some of it inspires hope, some of it seems a bit bizarre. Let's take a look in no particular order.

Daihatsu’s going to try a new Copen strategy

With the recent demise of the mid-engined Honda S660, Japan had found itself with only one holdout left from the charming bubble-era frivolity of the ‘sports kei’: the Daihatsu Copen. Where previously there had been the Autozam (Mazda/Suzuki) AZ-1, Honda Beat (of which the S660 was the belated successor) and Suzuki Cappuccino, now there is only a front-wheel-drive roadster – albeit with three different styling/branding options. Despite total sales rarely exceeding 5000 per year, the cult following it enjoys has clearly warranted a successor to the 2014 second-gen model (never sold in Europe). The K-Open might be a concept car, but it looks pretty damn production-ready. Aesthetically it traces a through line from the 2002 original via the 2015 Copen Cero, with round headlights and a near-symmetrical side profile, but its DRG has a much more sober and serious facial expression than the fun-loving glee of its predecessors. This is despite it being, for what would be the first time in a Copen, rear-wheel-drive like a proper sports car. A baby MX-5 that's even more affordable? It should look happier to be that… or would projecting unabashed joy feel inappropriate in today’s world?

Joining the K-Open were some more sensible-pants concepts in the form of two kei vans and the return of the riskily named Midget microcar as the Midget-X Concept. The latter suggests that Daihatsu might make Japan a new equivalent of the Piaggio Ape, with a hint of Gordon Murray T.25 in the ultra-compact 1+2 seating arrangement. Sumo wrestlers need not apply.

Subaru’s going to try being cool again

Since withdrawing from the World Rally Championship in 2008 amid the global financial crisis, Subaru’s road cars – like those of arch rival Mitsubishi post-WRC – have seemed to get more vanilla with each passing year. The exception is the BRZ sports car, of course, but that fun Toyota collaboration doesn’t feel very related to the rest of the model range (no turbo, no symmetrical AWD). Now, 30 years since Colin McRae’s WRC title triumph, we have been blindsided by not one but two fresh flashes of blue ‘n’ gold with pink STI logos. One of them’s petrol, the other’s electric. The Performance-B STI is a bodykitted version of the current Impreza hatchback complete with giant wing, manual gearbox and a bonnet scoop with ‘Proud of BOXER’ tattooed on it. The Impreza and WRX – now separate models – left the European market a few years ago, but North America and Australia still get both. Even so, there hasn’t been a full-fat STI since 2021. Enthusiasts would be quite happy if this very production-ready-looking concept became a reality. What will they think of the Performance-E STI concept, though? The all-new design looks much less production-ready and much larger. Subaru offers no concrete details, just marketing teasers of it being “the future of the performance scene” that allies “outstanding aero” with spacious practicality and “various innovative technologies.” You’d have to assume electric all-wheel-drive will be one of those. Hopefully ADAS isn’t.

Honda’s going to try better EVs 

Honda’s first all-electric car was the endlessly charming little E, which most buyers quickly dismissed as falling short on range, interior space and value despite it having so much character. Honda followed this up with the e:Ny1 crossover, which by contrast is utterly devoid of character whilst featuring hardware and tech that is still off the pace. Now it’s hoping for third-time lucky with the Super-N. It’s derived from the N-One kei car, of which there is already a kei-compliant E-version, but widened and powered-up to suit the European market instead – promising to be priced much more “competitively” (read: cheaper) than the old E, perhaps competing with the £25k~ Fiat 500e. No performance or range ratings are available yet but we are told that it’ll have a fake-engine gimmick mode like the Hyundai Ioniq 5 N to try and distract you from the fact that EVs aren’t exciting on their own merits. The Super-N was joined by the 0-Alpha compact SUV, the third element of the previously-announced 0 [zero] series of EVs which already includes a bigger SUV and a monovolume ‘0 Saloon’ that looks like the 2003 Kiwami concept updated.

Mazda’s going to try avoiding EVs

Mazda is defined by a plucky spirit, the ‘Jinba Ittai’ driving fun embodied best by the MX-5, and a long history with rotary engines. The latter part proved impossible to maintain a decade ago after the RX-8’s slow demise, but despite the rotary engine’s notorious thirst, it has returned to service as a range extender, disconnected from the driven wheels and humming away in its own little world to charge an EV battery in the extended-range MX-30 electric crossover. The MX-30 in some ways betrayed that Mazda is only getting into EVs because it has to, not because it enjoys them. Just recently we saw an electric saloon called the 6e, but this is really a Changan EV from China with Mazda design surfaces slapped on top. More telling is Mazda’s continued investment in sustainable liquid fuels for combustion engines and concept cars that are hybrids, not full EVs. Whilst the Vision X-Compact previews the next Mazda 2, the oddly proportioned Vision X-Coupé is an intriguing powertrain experiment. A turbocharged twin-rotor engine (evoking memories of the FD RX-7) combined with a battery is claimed to yield 500 miles of range – 400 from the engine and 100 from the battery – but on top of that, a carbon-capture device will be fitted to the exhaust to make this PHEV “carbon negative” when powered by Mazda’s own algae-based e-fuel. When all or any of those things are likely to reach production is unknown, but for now, take it as a sign of just how far Mazda wants to go to avoid an electric-only future.

Toyota’s just going to try everything

A few years ago, every major car manufacturer planning on still existing in the 2030s was announcing a roadmap to an EV-only model range, be it by 2025 or 2030 or somewhen in-between. Since then, many have changed their minds as buyers have increasingly gone cold on the idea (or not enjoyed feeling forced into it). Toyota, despite being renowned for its eco-friendly hybrids, has never committed very hard to EVs and doesn’t seem to think that’d be the best idea in 2025 either. The striking new Corolla concept is aesthetically very hit-and-miss, with a strong front end but aimlessly jagged creases and cuts everywhere else… and the answer to what will power it is similarly scattergun: the platform is packaged to accept pure petrol, hybrid, PHEV, pure EV and potentially hydrogen fuel-cell powertrains depending on what different markets want – because who even knows anymore?

And on that note, do you want the Lexus LS to stop being a limousine (since nobody buys those anymore) and become a crazy-looking VIP van with a reverse-P34 six-wheeler setup to improve rear cabin space? Just give it the thumbs up and it’ll happen, apparently. Would you rather it was a donked fastback-SUV instead? You absolute weirdo? Well the LS Coupe Concept shows you what that alternative would look like. Oh, and why not consider a Micro LS autonomous luxury wheelchair as well (just one of several mobility micro-vehicles shown)? Or maybe you don’t want the peak of Toyota’s luxury offering to be a Lexus at all? The increasing international interest in the long-running Toyota Century has led Toyota to spin-off a new Century sub-brand, previewed by the enormous Century Coupe Concept which combines SUV ride height with Rolls-Royce Spectre proportions. What powers this one, then? Toyota won’t say. Perhaps it doesn’t even know.

As for sports cars, which Toyota has admirably championed of late, on the one hand we have the Lexus Sport Concept with an EV powertrain and on the other hand we’ve seen the nearly-finished Gazoo Racing GT at Goodwood with a petrol V8 to homologate Toyota’s new GT3 racing car. Are they based on eachother? We don’t know. Given the sales flop of Maserati’s GranTurismo Folgore and other luxury performance EVs like it, the GR GT feels the more compelling proposition, sitting above the GR Supra as the flagship for Toyota’s Gazoo Racing performance brand and the successor to, confusingly, the Lexus LFA. So the Lexus EV version isn't meant to be that?

In the meantime, maybe some of you want a Land Cruiser but can’t deal with driving something that massive? The more sensible new 4.6m-long Land Cruiser FJ bridges the size gap between a full ‘Cruiser and the 5-door Suzuki Jimny XL. The rear blindspots created by its giant C-pillars might be the size of a Jimny on their own, though… and finally, if even a 3-door Jimny is too big for you, Toyota showed the IMV Origin concept mini-truck for developing markets, particularly Africa. Like Gordon Murray’s OX, it’s designed to be assembled ‘in the field’ as a kind of flat-pack kit vehicle… except it’s deliberately incomplete so that individual builders can choose what sort of truck it should be for themselves. Pickup? Minibus? Single-seater racing truck? Let the customer work that bit out.

Just someone, anyone, please help Toyota choose a direction of travel... or, in such uncertain times, maybe using its sheer size to cover every base possible is actually the smart thing to do?

Nissan’s going to try not going bust

Traditionally part of Japan’s ‘big three’, Nissan has been looking a little small recently. Sure, the Sakura kei car is Japan’s best-selling EV, but six months ago the company still decided to cut 20,000 jobs, shut seven factories and delay any upcoming new car projects after posting £3.8bn loss in 2024/25. The cost-cutting has been so aggressive that the 2025 NISMO Festival motorsport event has been cancelled, meaning its vast heritage collection of road, concept and racing cars will sit dormant for the foreseeable. Will Nissan itself? Not quite; a promise has been made to replace the ancient V37-platform saloon (Skyline in Japan, Infiniti Q50 internationally) and four new models were debuted in Tokyo. Well, two new models, a facelift and the JDM return of the Patrol 4x4 that was already on sale elsewhere. 

There’s a new-gen Roox kei car co-created with Mitsubishi, replacing the ‘BA1’ generation from which the Sakura is largely derived, whilst on the opposite end of the scale is the long-awaited new Elgrand premium minivan to take on Toyota’s very popular Alphard. All of this is very Asia-centric, though. Of international relevance is the facelifted Ariya EV which now looks nigh-on indistinguishable from the new Leaf crossover at the front. The Ariya only launched three years ago, but such is the speed of technological development that it already needed bringing in-line with newer product, so it has Google infotainment and vehicle-to-load capabilities like the new Leaf too. Will it be enough? What would be? How does Nissan convince the world that it deserves to stay in business? It tried merging with Honda but would’ve had to forfeit too much autonomy – perhaps not desirable after 25 years of various internal tensions with Renault. It’s anyone’s guess what happens from here...