Out-of-the-box... boxes

Sometime in the last decade, sedans began to fall out of favor with the market. As manufacturers saw the potential of the SUV, every brand from South Korea to the US to Germany leapt on the bandwagon, churning out trucklets of every size and price conceivable. Even the hallowed sports car brand, Porsche, couldn’t pass up the chance and thus came up with the Cayenne.

But last year, skyrocketing oil prices burst the bubble for predominantly gas-guzzling SUVs. Today, even with lower fuel prices, a Hummer in the garage just isn’t as appealing what with recession-chic in most consumers’ minds. But as an offshoot of the SUV phenomenon, the general “box” (primarily “two-box”, denoting a compartment for the engine bay, another for the cabin) format came back into fashion. It was thought to have died with the hatchback in the 80’s, but thanks to the macho wagon look of the SUV, box-like vehicles are now back in style whether it’s a humble Hyundai i10 or a subtle Kia Carens.

If anything else, the SUV opened the market’s eyes to the sexiness and versatility of the two-box design, and why shouldn’t it? Just look at any reasonably sized SUV, minivan, AUV, or crossover and you just know it will hold a lot more cargo than any sedan. Even so, a cookie cutter product won’t make it big. It still needs to have a special something to make it sell. Witness the success of the Honda Jazz which raised the bar for hatchbacks; now competitors are emulating its space-efficiency.

Still, even as the industry is coping with the financial crisis, several players have already gotten a head start with what it thinks the market will want in the next few years. Here are three of the most intriguing so far:

Tata Nano – Skeptics said it couldn’t be done, that there was no way the Indian conglomerate could produce “the cheapest car in the world” without shooting itself in the foot. But Tata saw the potential and the need for just such a car in the world’s most populous country (less than 2% of the 1 billion population own a car, most of them ride around on motorbikes).

A fresh-from-the-wheels-up car and not a stripped down unit, the Nano is brimming with innovation. It’s not the type to make enthusiasts go “ooh” and “ahh”, but something that engineers will likely appreciate. To cut down on weight and sheetmetal, the Nano is just 122 inches long and uses a “monobox” format. That’s right, there’s no engine bay because that and the transmission are behind and below the rear seat. The motor itself is just a 34-HP, .6-liter 2-cylinder; some motorcycles have more guts than this. Further innovation in the name of cost-cutting involved deleting the rear doors and a tailgate (you access the back through the front doors). There is no power steering, no brake booster, no heater (although an A/C is optional), and it rolls about on tiny 12-inch wheels and tires. Price? It starts at US $2,400. As you might have guessed, the Indians are ditching their motorcyles for the Nano.

Nissan Cube – The Cube is a little late to the box party begun by the Honda Element, Scion xB, and Kia Soul, but makes up for it with Apple-esque attitude. Its US marketing campaign eschews traditional motorhead lingo like “horsepower” or “torque” for more techie terms, calling it a “mobile device”, for instance. Externally, the Cube looks like a giant iPod with gentle contours to smoothen out its cubist lines, and exceptionally large windows with which to “browse” the countryside. Inside, creative packaging enables the diminutive Cube to have a “storage capacity” good enough for 6-foot Westerners, and the rear door opens to the side like a refrigerator’s.

Toyota iQ – The iQ is a microcar aimed at buyers who don’t want to look cheap. At just 117 inches long, it’s even shorter than the Tata Nano. Yet it’s a four-passenger, three-door hatchback sporting a lot of attitude to make up for its size. The wheels, pushed out to the very edges of the vehicle, are housed in bulging fenders. The pugnacious, edgy front fascia brings to mind a bulldog. The interior, characterized by curves in the doors and dash, is strikingly broken up with an inverted triangle center console. To free up passenger space, the transmission housing is in front of the engine, the starter motor is incorporated into the flywheel, the steering rack is placed up high, and a miniaturized A/C unit is housed in a pod above the dash. All these allowed the engineers to really push the cabin firewall forward. Furthermore, the passenger side of the asymmetrical dashboard is almost non-existent to free up legroom. Finally, a shallow fuel tank is used, placed below the floor to reduce rear overhang.

Our apologies... Last week’s Lenten break prevented many of our regular Backseat Drivers from posting their comments as even our web moderator took a much-needed break. We are thus experiencing a dearth of intelligent comments, reactions and suggestions from you, our faithful readers. No worries. We promise to start printing them again the moment you guys start posting them again. In the meantime, here’s the only comment that made it in time for our deadline (Hey, better one than none!). It’s a reaction to MMDA Director De Dios’ letter to the editor, which we reprinted in its entirety last week…

If not because of the long holiday, where online bloggers like me are “out-of-office”, this article would have already been bombarded by tons of feedbacks and comments before I posted this (Monday, April 13, 2009). Simulation seems to be ineffective when the actual project is executed/done. Just by example, traffic light green and red on simulation means go and stop respectively. In actual Metro Manila road scenario, green means go while red means go faster. I’m not sure if the good MMDA director has read the article from the broadsheet instead on this website. – KERSMcPherson

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