Tokyo show: Small cars make big showing

YOU'RE looking at Hyundai's eagerly awaited replacement for the Excel, unveiled at the Tokyo motor show in thinly disguised concept form.

The concept is called TB, but that won't translate into production form. Instead, the car is expected to be called Trevi in Australia, as previously reported by Automotive NetWorks.

It is one of a number of significant small car offerings at Tokyo, including the Chevrolet Cruze small four-wheel drive - which should be sold here as a Holden - and the first inklings of a new generation of Mitsubishi small cars.

Hyundai Automotive Distributors Australia has high hopes for the Excel replacement, which should go on sale here in the third quarter of 2002, after it makes its production debut at next March's Geneva motor show.

While it is not expected to recapture the Excel's sales share, combined with the Accent - which it will undercut in price - the TB/Trevi should ensure Hyundai dominates the light car segment.

The TB/Trevi is under four metres in length but Hyundai claims it can seat five "comfortably". It will be available both as the five-door revealed in Tokyo and a three-door.

While shown with a 1.3-litre, four-cylinder engine mated to an electronically controlled four-speed automatic transmission, the TB will feature engines as small as 1.0-litre for some markets.

In Australia we are expected to get a 1.5-litre engine and probably the 1.3 as well.

Mitsubishi showed the CZ2 and the sporty CZ3, which is based on it. These are among the first cars penned by Frenchman Olivier Boulay since he joined the company from Mercedes-Benz.

They give a hint to the look of Mitsubishi's new generation small car coded Z Car, which will share its platform with the four-door Smart due around 2004.

A 1.3-litre engine with variable valve timing, mated to a continuously variable transmission, powers the CZ2.

CZ3 borrows heavily from the CZ2's exterior, this rally car concept powered by a 1.5-liter GDI (gasoline direct-injection) intercoooler turbocharged engine, again mated to a CVT. It uses the same full-time all-wheel drive with active yaw control and active center differential as the Lancer Evolution VII.

More immediately, the Cruze should be on sale here in the first quarter of 2002, complete with 1.5-litre engine and four-wheel drive. Very much in the new "crossover" genre of four-wheel drives, Holden expects the Cruze to attract buyers from several traditional market segments, including light cars and four-wheel drive.

There is a significant local link to this car as it was styled by Holden for GM and Suzuki, which are the partners in the project.

It is based on the Suzuki small car platform, which is already sold in Australia underpinning the Ignis three and five-door hatch. However, Suzuki will not sell the Cruze here.

To the surprise of Holden executives, GM top brass in Japan for the launch of Cruze were reported as saying the car "could" be exported to Australia.

Holden executives are unaware of any "maybes" about the Cruze, saying it is timed to go on sale toward the end of March at a price close to $20,000.

* Watch out for our full wrap-up of the Tokyo motor show in automotive e-news next Monday. To subscribe just click on the icon on the top right corner of the "home page".