Toyota Shows Off Fuel-Cell Automobile

Toyota, maker of the Prius, the first hybrid vehicle to achieve mass-market acceptance, on Wednesday unveiled a concept version of a hydrogen fuel-cell car that it plans to begin selling “around 2015,” as the company put it. The bright blue sedan is shaped like a drop of water to emphasize that water is the only substance that hydrogen-powered cars emit from their tailpipes.

The car, which Toyota calls the FCV concept, was one of several vehicles with alternative powertrains to take the spotlight at the Tokyo Motor Show, which opened to reporters on Wednesday. Later in the day, two other carmakers, Honda and Hyundai, were expected to display new fuel-cell vehicles at a preview for the auto show in Los Angeles.

Honda was set to introduce a concept version of a new car it plans to introduce in 2015. Hyundai, which is based in South Korea, says it intended to beat both of its Japanese rivals to market next year with a hydrogen-powered vehicle based on its Tucson sport utility vehicle.

In July, Honda and General Motors announced that they agreed to share fuel-cell technology.

For years, automakers have talked about the potential of hydrogen power to help them reduce harmful greenhouse gas pollution and meet strict emissions standards in places like California. But there is a joke in the industry that “fuel-cell technology is always five years down the road,” said Alan Baum of Baum & Associates, an auto industry analyst in West Bloomfield, Mich.

Fuel-cell cars, which create the electricity that powers them by combining hydrogen with the oxygen in the atmosphere, have been held back by a variety of factors, including the high cost and a dearth of hydrogen filling stations. Although a handful of fuel-cell test cars and fleet vehicles are on the road, the new models from Honda, Hyundai and Toyota are expected to be among the first hydrogen-powered cars available to the public.

“Everybody has been putting their toe in the water, but Toyota putting its toe in the water is a bit more significant,” Mr. Baum said.

Toyota executives noted that hybrid technology faced considerable skepticism until the Prius was introduced in 1997 in Japan and in 2000 in the United States, where it quickly became a must-have accessory for Hollywood stars and Internet entrepreneurs. Now that Toyota, the biggest carmaker in the world, is signaling its commitment to fuel-cell technology, the infrastructure will follow, they hope.

“One of the reasons we are doing this is to send a message,” said Satoshi Ogiso, deputy chief officer in Toyota’s product planning group.

Fuel-cell cars will give greater choice to consumers who are seeking engines that are easier on the environment, creating a potential rivalry with battery-powered electric vehicles. Despite the popularity of electric cars from Tesla Motors in California, fully electric cars remain a niche market. Through October, 78,000 were sold in the United States, according to Baum & Associates, compared with 423,000 hybrids. Only about 1,000 fuel cell cars are expected to be sold worldwide in 2015, according to Navigant Research, which provides market analysis for so-called clean technology.

Toyota has not provided estimates of sales for its fuel-cell car, though executives acknowledge privately that the numbers will be modest to start and that sales will be concentrated in places like California and Scandinavia, where emissions targets are strictest. Toyota, while embracing hybrid powertrains, has favored fuel-cell technology over fully electric cars, saying the experience of driving them is more like what consumers are used to with gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles. The company says its new car will be able to cover about 500 kilometers, or 310 miles, on a single hydrogen fill-up that takes just a few minutes. Fully electric vehicles require lengthy recharging time.

Other carmakers are hedging their bets. Although many of the big players have fuel-cell projects underway, either alone or with partners, some also continue to promote electric vehicles. Battery recharging stations are more widespread than hydrogen filling stations.

And fuel cells are not as clean as they might seem, detractors say, because the production of hydrogen releases greenhouse gases. But then, most electricity generation also uses carbon-based fuels.

“It’s still difficult to choose a winner at this point, which is why the automakers are diversifying their portfolios,” said Thilo Koslowski, an analyst at Gartner, a research company.

At the Tokyo show, another Japanese automaker, Nissan, displayed an electric concept car called BladeGlider, which looks like a cross between a Batmobile and a stealth fighter. It has a single seat in front for the driver and two in back, and the doors open at a rakish, upward-slanting angle.

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s chief executive, said car designers had greater styling freedom with electric cars, because the motors are smaller. In the BladeGlider, they are built into the rear wheels, allowing the front end, which houses the motor in most conventional cars, to taper to a point.

“We are promoting electric cars because we believe in the potential of electric cars,” Mr. Ghosn said.

Toyota executives say the FCV concept is close in appearance to the expected production version of the car. It has a large grille and other openings to allow cooling air and oxygen.

The company has not announced a price, but Mr. Ogiso said the car would be aimed at a niche of environmentally conscious, early adopting and relatively affluent customers — much like Toyota’s pioneering hybrid car.

“We have learned a lot from Prius,” Mr. Ogiso said.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: November 22, 2013

An earlier version of this article provided an incorrect time frame for sales figures from Baum & Associates. The data, relating to sales of hybrid and electric cars in the United States, are for the year 2013 through October, not September.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: November 23, 2013

A picture caption on Thursday with an article about Toyota’s hydrogen-powered FCV concept car misstated the power source of a rival’s concept car, the Nissan BladeGlider EV. The BladeGlider is a battery-powered electric car; it is not powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.

Mini’s 3rd-Generation Hardtop Shows Subtle Aesthetic Changes

The automaker has assured customers that the new hardtop is different from the cars that preceded it, but as with any litter of puppies, sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference.

The car — revealed on Monday in Oxford, England, where the factory is located, and appearing at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week — appears somewhat fuller and rounder than its predecessor. It blinks eagerly through bright new LED headlights and offers a slightly smilier version of the familiar grille. The same chunky body proportions and floating roof come with updated front fender vents. The new hardtop is 4.5 inches longer, 1.7 inches wider and a third of an inch taller than its predecessor — making it not unlike the best-fed puppy of a litter.

But the visible differences among the hardtop’s various generations are less distinct than those among other vehicles already in the Mini kennel, such as the Paceman and the Clubman. Indeed, the average driver, confronted with the three generations of Mini, would be hard-pressed to put them in chronological order.

So why is Mini so beloved in an era when people constantly expect new versions of things and worship innovation and disruption? Mini is still part of the resistance to the annual model change epitomized by the original Volkswagen Beetle, a model with a glacial rate of change. Mini seems to share the spirit of Shredded Wheat, the breakfast cereal whose slogan once was, “We put the no in innovation.”

“Everything is new, but the soul is the same,” Mini’s marketers say. The new BMW-bred Mini, as envisioned by Chris Bangle and Frank Stephenson, who introduced it at the Paris motor show in 2000, was that it should look as if the 1959 original had continued to evolve in the intervening years. Implicit in that theory was that more evolution was to come. That evolution for the next-generation Mini was directed by Mini’s design chief, Anders Warming, the Danish-born designer who at BMW conducted the séance behind the retro Mille Miglia concept, channeling the prewar BMW 328 rally cars.

All exterior aesthetic mutations aside, the real change in the new Mini lies beneath its skin. The new hatchback rides a platform to be shared with BMW’s 1 Series, as well as its X1 crossover. The car’s updated engines come from a new family of novel 3- and 4-cylinder modular turbo engines, called Twin Power Turbo. The company claims fuel efficiency increases of 15 percent and highway fuel economy as high as 44 miles per gallon. But sportiness increases, too, with plenty of torque on tap at low engine speeds.

The basic car gets a 134-horsepower turbocharged 1.5-liter 3-cylinder engine that cranks out 162 pound-feet of torque. The sportier model, the Cooper S, offers a 189-horsepower 2-liter 4-cylinder turbo with peak torque of 207 pound-feet. With its new 6-speed manual and automatic transmission options, the new car is peppier than the outgoing version. Mini promises that the 1.5-liter engine will go from zero to 60 m.p.h. in 7.4 seconds with the manual transmission — 7.3 seconds with the automatic — and reach a top speed of 130 m.p.h. The 2-liter will sprint to 60 in 6.5 seconds — 6.4 in the automatic — on its way to a top speed of about 145 m.p.h.

American versions will be at the Los Angeles auto show this week, but the Brits wanted to celebrate Nov. 18 – the birthday of Sir Alec Issigonis, the self-taught engineer-designer who came up with what was formally called the Morris Mini Minor. He had been asked to provide a British alternative to the German bubble cars that were invading the lower end of the market during the 1950s. The key innovation was turning the engine sideways, so that it was parallel with the front axle that it drove, creating the format that most future front-wheel-drive cars have followed.

There are big changes in the Mini’s interior. The current hardtop’s theme of toylike toggle switches has matured. The speedometer has moved from the center of the instrument panel to a more normal position behind the steering wheel. A heads-up display has been added as well. The central console space that has, until now, looked like a radar screen, will grow into a complex controller for a new infotainment system. The new layout is tied together with an 8.8-inch perimeter ring that glows in one of six colors depending upon function — yellow or red for the backup radar, for example.

The new car’s electronics include smart features that are common on luxury sedans but novel as options on a car as small as the Mini. A number of already installed apps provide the basis for smartphone compatibility. The car also features adaptive cruise control, collision warning, parking assist and a backup camera.

For many longtime Mini drivers, telling one generation from another is not a problem: they have long customized their Minis in many ways. To the variations of stripes and flags, roofs and mirror choices of the current model, roof rails have been added. With this sort of pet attention, it’s little wonder that, according to the company, one-third of Mini drivers give names to their vehicles.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: November 21, 2013

An earlier version of this article misstated the year that BMW introduced the reborn Mini at the Paris motor show. It was 2000, not 2001.

Toyota Shows Off Fuel-Cell Automobile

Toyota, maker of the Prius, the first hybrid vehicle to achieve mass-market acceptance, on Wednesday unveiled a concept version of a hydrogen fuel-cell car that it plans to begin selling “around 2015,” as the company put it. The bright blue sedan is shaped like a drop of water to emphasize that water is the only substance that hydrogen-powered cars emit from their tailpipes.

The car, which Toyota calls the FCV concept, was one of several vehicles with alternative powertrains to take the spotlight at the Tokyo Motor Show, which opened to reporters on Wednesday. Later in the day, two other carmakers, Honda and Hyundai, were expected to display new fuel-cell vehicles at a preview for the auto show in Los Angeles.

Honda was set to introduce a concept version of a new car it plans to introduce in 2015. Hyundai, which is based in South Korea, says it intended to beat both of its Japanese rivals to market next year with a hydrogen-powered vehicle based on its Tucson sport utility vehicle.

In July, Honda and General Motors announced that they agreed to share fuel-cell technology.

For years, automakers have talked about the potential of hydrogen power to help them reduce harmful greenhouse gas pollution and meet strict emissions standards in places like California. But there is a joke in the industry that “fuel-cell technology is always five years down the road,” said Alan Baum of Baum & Associates, an auto industry analyst in West Bloomfield, Mich.

Fuel-cell cars, which create the electricity that powers them by combining hydrogen with the oxygen in the atmosphere, have been held back by a variety of factors, including the high cost and a dearth of hydrogen filling stations. Although a handful of fuel-cell test cars and fleet vehicles are on the road, the new models from Honda, Hyundai and Toyota are expected to be among the first hydrogen-powered cars available to the public.

“Everybody has been putting their toe in the water, but Toyota putting its toe in the water is a bit more significant,” Mr. Baum said.

Toyota executives noted that hybrid technology faced considerable skepticism until the Prius was introduced in 1997 in Japan and in 2000 in the United States, where it quickly became a must-have accessory for Hollywood stars and Internet entrepreneurs. Now that Toyota, the biggest carmaker in the world, is signaling its commitment to fuel-cell technology, the infrastructure will follow, they hope.

“One of the reasons we are doing this is to send a message,” said Satoshi Ogiso, deputy chief officer in Toyota’s product planning group.

Fuel-cell cars will give greater choice to consumers who are seeking engines that are easier on the environment, creating a potential rivalry with battery-powered electric vehicles. Despite the popularity of electric cars from Tesla Motors in California, fully electric cars remain a niche market. Through September, 78,000 were sold in the United States, according to Baum & Associates, compared with 423,000 hybrids. Only about 1,000 fuel cell cars are expected to be sold worldwide in 2015, according to Navigant Research, which provides market analysis for so-called clean technology.

Toyota has not provided estimates of sales for its fuel-cell car, though executives acknowledge privately that the numbers will be modest to start and that sales will be concentrated in places like California and Scandinavia, where emissions targets are strictest. Toyota, while embracing hybrid powertrains, has favored fuel-cell technology over fully electric cars, saying the experience of driving them is more like what consumers are used to with gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicles. The company says its new car will be able to cover about 500 kilometers, or 310 miles, on a single hydrogen fill-up that takes just a few minutes. Fully electric vehicles require lengthy recharging time.

Other carmakers are hedging their bets. Although many of the big players have fuel-cell projects underway, either alone or with partners, some also continue to promote electric vehicles. Battery recharging stations are more widespread than hydrogen filling stations.

And fuel cells are not as clean as they might seem, detractors say, because the production of hydrogen releases greenhouse gases. But then, most electricity generation also uses carbon-based fuels.

“It’s still difficult to choose a winner at this point, which is why the automakers are diversifying their portfolios,” said Thilo Koslowski, an analyst at Gartner, a research company.

At the Tokyo show, another Japanese automaker, Nissan, displayed an electric concept car called BladeGlider, which looks like a cross between a Batmobile and a stealth fighter. It has a single seat in front for the driver and two in back, and the doors open at a rakish, upward-slanting angle.

Carlos Ghosn, Nissan’s chief executive, said car designers had greater styling freedom with electric cars, because the motors are smaller. In the BladeGlider, they are built into the rear wheels, allowing the front end, which houses the motor in most conventional cars, to taper to a point.

“We are promoting electric cars because we believe in the potential of electric cars,” Mr. Ghosn said.

Toyota executives say the FCV concept is close in appearance to the expected production version of the car. It has a large grille and other openings to allow cooling air and oxygen.

The company has not announced a price, but Mr. Ogiso said the car would be aimed at a niche of environmentally conscious, early adopting and relatively affluent customers — much like Toyota’s pioneering hybrid car.

“We have learned a lot from Prius,” Mr. Ogiso said.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: November 21, 2013

An earlier version of a picture caption with this article misstated the power source of the BladeGlider EV concept car. It is a battery-powered electric car; it is not powered by hydrogen.

Mini’s 3rd-Generation Hardtop Shows Subtle Aesthetic Changes

The automaker has assured customers that the new hardtop is different from the cars that preceded it, but as with any litter of puppies, sometimes it can be hard to tell the difference.

The car — revealed on Monday in Oxford, England, where the factory is located, and appearing at the Los Angeles Auto Show this week — appears somewhat fuller and rounder than its predecessor. It blinks eagerly through bright new LED headlights and offers a slightly smilier version of the familiar grille. The same chunky body proportions and floating roof come with updated front fender vents. The new hardtop is 4.5 inches longer, 1.7 inches wider and a third of an inch taller than its predecessor — making it not unlike the best-fed puppy of a litter.

But the visible differences among the hardtop’s various generations are less distinct than those among other vehicles already in the Mini kennel, such as the Paceman and the Clubman. Indeed, the average driver, confronted with the three generations of Mini, would be hard-pressed to put them in chronological order.

So why is Mini so beloved in an era when people constantly expect new versions of things and worship innovation and disruption? Mini is still part of the resistance to the annual model change epitomized by the original Volkswagen Beetle, a model with a glacial rate of change. Mini seems to share the spirit of Shredded Wheat, the breakfast cereal whose slogan once was, “We put the no in innovation.”

“Everything is new, but the soul is the same,” Mini’s marketers say. The new BMW-bred Mini, as envisioned by Chris Bangle and Frank Stephenson, who showed it in Paris in 2001, was that it should look as if the 1959 original had continued to evolve in the intervening years. Implicit in that theory was that more evolution was to come. That evolution for the next-generation Mini was directed by Mini’s design chief, Anders Warming, the Danish-born designer who at BMW conducted the séance behind the retro Mille Miglia concept, channeling the prewar BMW 328 rally cars.

All exterior aesthetic mutations aside, the real change in the new Mini lies beneath its skin. The new hatchback rides a platform to be shared with BMW’s 1 Series, as well as its X1 crossover. The car’s updated engines come from a new family of novel 3- and 4-cylinder modular turbo engines, called Twin Power Turbo. The company claims fuel efficiency increases of 15 percent and highway fuel economy as high as 44 miles per gallon. But sportiness increases, too, with plenty of torque on tap at low engine speeds.

The basic car gets a 134-horsepower turbocharged 1.5-liter 3-cylinder engine that cranks out 162 pound-feet of torque. The sportier model, the Cooper S, offers a 189-horsepower 2-liter 4-cylinder turbo with peak torque of 207 pound-feet. With its new 6-speed manual and automatic transmission options, the new car is peppier than the outgoing version. Mini promises that the 1.5-liter engine will go from zero to 60 m.p.h. in 7.4 seconds with the manual transmission — 7.3 seconds with the automatic — and reach a top speed of 130 m.p.h. The 2-liter will sprint to 60 in 6.5 seconds — 6.4 in the automatic — on its way to a top speed of about 145 m.p.h.

American versions will be at the Los Angeles auto show this week, but the Brits wanted to celebrate Nov. 18 – the birthday of Sir Alec Issigonis, the self-taught engineer-designer who came up with what was formally called the Morris Mini Minor. He had been asked to provide a British alternative to the German bubble cars that were invading the lower end of the market during the 1950s. The key innovation was turning the engine sideways, so that it was parallel with the front axle that it drove, creating the format that most future front-wheel-drive cars have followed.

There are big changes in the Mini’s interior. The current hardtop’s theme of toylike toggle switches has matured. The speedometer has moved from the center of the instrument panel to a more normal position behind the steering wheel. A heads-up display has been added as well. The central console space that has, until now, looked like a radar screen, will grow into a complex controller for a new infotainment system. The new layout is tied together with an 8.8-inch perimeter ring that glows in one of six colors depending upon function — yellow or red for the backup radar, for example.

The new car’s electronics include smart features that are common on luxury sedans but novel as options on a car as small as the Mini. A number of already installed apps provide the basis for smartphone compatibility. The car also features adaptive cruise control, collision warning, parking assist and a backup camera.

For many longtime Mini drivers, telling one generation from another is not a problem: they have long customized their Minis in many ways. To the variations of stripes and flags, roofs and mirror choices of the current model, roof rails have been added. With this sort of pet attention, it’s little wonder that, according to the company, one-third of Mini drivers give names to their vehicles.

Wheels Blog: Aston Martin Shows the CC100 in Germany

Aston Martin Aston Martin showed off its CC100 Speedster Concept at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring race last weekend.

Among the many 100th birthday activities Aston Martin had going on during last weekend’s Nürburgring 24-hour race, almost lost in all the events was the introduction of the CC100 Speedster Concept.

“I have nicknamed it DBR100 because of its affinity to the great 1959 race-winning cars, and of course, our anniversary,” said Ulrich Bez, the company’s chief executive, who introduced the car on Saturday before the start of the race. “But this car shows that the soul of Aston Martin is as powerful as ever.”

Mr. Bez drove the CC100 around the track on a parade lap, followed by Sir Stirling Moss in the classic ’59 DBR1 – a 24-Hours of Le Mans winner – and a lineup of DB5s, One-77 limited edition models and other special Aston Martin cars.

Aston Martin Aston Martin’s CC100 Speedster Concept.

The open-top, V-12-powered concept, which Aston Martin has no firm plans to bring to production, does signal a new design direction that will be incorporated into future models, Mr. Bez said.

The concept was taken from sketches by the designers Marek Reichman and Miles Nurnberger to reality in just the last six months at the company’s headquarters in Gaydon, England. Mr. Nurnberger said his assignment was simple, yet daunting: “Create something that reflects the 100 years of Aston Martin heritage and signals the future of the brand.”

The CC100 rides on the company’s VH platform, has a full carbon-fiber body structure and a 555-horsepower 6-liter engine that will propel the car from zero to 60 m.p.h. in under four seconds, the company said. The car has a top speed of 180 m.p.h.

Aston Martin Aston Martin’s CC100 Speedster Concept.

Wheels Blog: Survey Shows Strong Support for Fuel Efficiency Standards

Bill Pugliano/Getty Images A Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid takes shape at the General Motors Detroit Hamtramck Assembly Plant in Hamtramck, Mich.

A new survey has found that consumers want more fuel efficient cars and also support the new federal fuel economy standards that the federal government plans to reach by 2025.

The survey, conducted by the Consumer Federation of America, polled 1,001 adults by telephone. The results, released on Monday, indicate strong public support for the 54.5 mile per gallon federal fuel economy standards. It also suggested strong intentions on the part of most vehicle buyers to seek improved fuel economy on their next vehicle.

According to the survey, 85 percent of respondents said they supported the 54.5 m.p.g. rule and 54 percent strongly supported it. Those results cut across political lines, according to the poll, with support from 77 percent of the Republicans surveyed, 92 percent of the Democrats and 87 percent of the independents. Eighty-eight percent of those participating in the poll said that fuel economy would be an important factor in their next car purchase, the survey said, and 59 percent said it would be a “very important” consideration.

Respondents now driving 24 m.p.g. vehicles told the federation that they expect an improvement to about 31 m.p.g. in the next vehicle they buy. And 57 percent of those who said they planned to buy an S.U.V. said they expected it to achieve at least 25 m.p.g. The federation also pointed to the increasing popularity and availability of 4-cylinder engines.

Mark Cooper, the federation’s director of research, said in a telephone interview that concern about fuel economy had increased sharply among American car buyers.

“Even 10 years ago, it was not much of an issue,” he said. “But subsequent gas price hikes got people thinking about it. The automakers needed a good framework for dealing with efficiency, and that’s why we think the federal fuel economy standards are very effective — they arrived at a time when the market was ready.”

Jack Gillis, a federation spokesman, said in a telephone interview that consumers weren’t just talking about buying the more efficient cars that are increasingly available to them; a look at the most popular vehicles shows that they’re actually buying them.

A random telephone survey by the Consumer Reports National Research Center, released in February, reached similar conclusions about market intent. It said that two-thirds of car buyers expected their next car or truck to provide much better or somewhat better fuel economy than their current one.

Wheels Blog: The New WRX Concept Shows Off Subaru’s New Design Language

Subaru of America, Inc., via PR Newswire The all-new Subaru WRX concept debuted at the 2013 New York International Auto Show.

Osamu Namba, the Subaru design chief, made a surprise appearance at the New York International Auto Show last week for the unveiling of the new WRX concept. In an interview at the company’s stand, he said the car presented the company’s new design language, parts of which were seen in the Viziv concept shown at the Geneva auto show in March. As the most extreme of Subaru designs, the WRX offers the company a chance to render the new vocabulary in striking form.

Mr. Namba said the name of the new look is Dynamic Solidity. Speaking through a translator, he said the two-part phrase echoed formulations like Hyundai’s “fluidic sculpture” or Lexus’s “L finesse.”

By tradition, Subarus are known for solid dependability. Touting all-wheel drive and boxer engines, many past models have worn homeliness proudly, giving cargo capacity, road clearance and ruggedness priority over aesthetics. Dynamic Solidity takes Subaru’s styling in a new direction.

“It has to be dynamic,” Mr. Namba said of the new look. “It says performance, but Subaru performance tradition.”

Subaru’s performance pedigree turns on the flat four boxer engines and full-time all-wheel drive offered on the company’s vehicles. Subaru’s new lines visually widen the new WRX concept’s face, bringing a lower look to the vehicles than seen on previous models. The wheel arches are large, to emphasize all-wheel drive.

“We have kept the hexagonal grille, of course,” Mr. Namba said. He pointed out the square, LED-bracketed headlights flanking the grille, which is filled with a three-dimensional mesh pattern. Subaru’s “star cluster” logo floats in the grille’s center.

“These shapes go through to the rear,” he said, comparing the front bracket form lights to similar bracket shapes echoed on the rear lights. The low, wide diffuser in back also mimics the grille and lower front side vents.

A big air intake and hood bulge add cartoonish features to the powerful looking WRX, more or less in keeping with typical concept car exaggeration. Even the company’s characteristic bright blue paint has been dialed up with a new metallic hue called WR Blue Pearl III. The sparkly blue is offset with bright fluorescent yellow exhaust tips and brake calipers. There is no danger of the new look Subaru being confused with a Italian roadster.

“The new look is to bring a family consistency,” Mr. Namba said. “This will be on the new models, it will cascade through the line.”

Looking at Subaru’s current model lineup side by side – the chunky, aggressive Impreza compared with the svelte, handsome BRZ coupe, for example – it’s clear that consistency has been lacking in Subaru’s design approach.

In avoiding changes to Subaru’s hexagonal grille, Mr. Namba may be playing it safe. An awkward upright oval grille – last seen on the Tribeca compact S.U.V. – scuttled the last Subaru design revolution, much to the chagrin of the former Subaru design chief Andreas Zapatinas. Ostensibly inspired by jet aircraft, the almost Edsel-eque grille pattern now appears to have been the work of Erwin Himmel, a designer, who began work on the project before Mr. Zapatinas arrived in 2002. Whoever is to blame, the grille was widely derided.

Mr. Zapatinas’s tenure at Subaru lasted until 2006, and the company picked up Mr. Namba from his private firm in 2008. As the new faces of Subaru’s reborn design language, the world is certain to see and hear more of Mr. Namba and the WRX concept.