Hydrogen-powered LHD Toyota Mark X Zio spied in the U.S.
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This Japanese-market Mark X Zio doesn’t exactly look in place here in the United States. The vehicle itself has been on sale in Japan for a while now, but not as seen here: First – this is left-hand drive vehicle and therefore not something that you would find in Japan.
Second: This Mark X Zio was running on a hydrogen fuel cell!
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With gas prices going up and up, we wouldn’t be surprised if Toyota is considering introducing such a vehicle to the United States.
So, could Toyota now be admitting that it needs a MPV / space wagon / mini-minivan to join Mazda CX-9, Ford Flex, etc.? Will a compact MPV, like the new Corolla MPV, be next?
I am not sure where it would fit in Toyota's North American crossover lineup. It seats more than the new Venza, but is smaller in outside dimensions. With its 50/50-split 3rd row, it has a more flexible seating arrangement than the Highlander.
Would it not crowd out one or the other of the Venza or the Highlander?
Why could the Venza not have been designed to have the option of a 3rd row of seats?
So, could Toyota now be admitting that it needs a MPV / space wagon / mini-minivan to join Mazda CX-9, Ford Flex, etc.? Will a compact MPV, like the new Corolla MPV, be next?
I am not sure where it would fit in Toyota's North American crossover lineup. It seats more than the new Venza, but is smaller in outside dimensions. With its 50/50-split 3rd row, it has a more flexible seating arrangement than the Highlander.
Would it not crowd out one or the other of the Venza or the Highlander?
Why could the Venza not have been designed to have the option of a 3rd row of seats?
I'm not sure either. I hope they don't pull a GM and saturate the market with too many of the same car or cars too close to each other. Maybe they didn't want Venza to up one on the Highlander and have three seat thus competing directly since the two are almost identical in size. Or as some posters noted this could either be a Scion (doubt it) or an entry level Lexus CUV to compete with the likes of the Acura RDX and EX from Infiniti.
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hmm... at first I thought it was MARK X!!! I was all excited... then read the "ZIO" part...
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Originally Posted by ECHOKnight2000
I'm not sure either. I hope they don't pull a GM and saturate the market with too many of the same car or cars too close to each other. Maybe they didn't want Venza to up one on the Highlander and have three seat thus competing directly since the two are almost identical in size. Or as some posters noted this could either be a Scion (doubt it) or an entry level Lexus CUV to compete with the likes of the Acura RDX and EX from Infiniti.
I would have preferred the Mark X also... the sedan as the replacement for the Avalon, and the ZiO as the basis for the Venza (although I am not a fan of the ZiO's jelly bean look).
I would have preferred something similar to the Ford Freestyle / Taurus X and Flex, you know, something lower and with the option of a 3rd row of seats. The Venza, in its current configuration, is too American SUVish for me.
It may look like the Matrix, but that is where the similarity stops. The ZiO is much larger than the Matrix: the ZiO is about the size of a Camry (a mid-size car), but the Matrix is shorter than the Corolla (a compact car), and the Matrix is too small to accept a 3rd row of seats.
I don't think that Toyota is getting rid of the Vibe:
The Vibe is a Pontiac that only happens to be made by Toyota, so getting rid of it is probably not Toyota's decision (at least not without Pontiac's approval).
The Vibe/Matrix are relatively easy and cheap to produce, since it is built on the Corolla platform. Toyota probably makes (a lot) of money on each Matrix/Vibe sold.
It may look like the Matrix, but that is where the similarity stops. The ZiO is much larger than the Matrix: the ZiO is about the size of a Camry (a mid-size car), but the Matrix is shorter than the Corolla (a compact car), and the Matrix is too small to accept a 3rd row of seats.
I don't think that Toyota is getting rid of the Vibe:
The Vibe is a Pontiac that only happens to be made by Toyota, so getting rid of it is probably not Toyota's decision (at least not without Pontiac's approval).
The Vibe/Matrix are relatively easy and cheap to produce, since it is built on the Corolla platform. Toyota probably makes (a lot) of money on each Matrix/Vibe sold.
And they combine sales of Matrix with Corolla.Yeah the Mark X would be nice classy car with some sporty flare would be nice but that's not in Toyota vocabulary. I think they would price it out of market if they brought the Mark X over. Although isn't one of the Lexus models based on that platform??
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U.S. media is a systematic censorship on free speech. They don't like what they hear they don't report. Don't want to upset the political and advertising sponsors. Its so corrupted. While they don't have to agree with certain views, its their job to report and let US decide.
And they combine sales of Matrix with Corolla.Yeah the Mark X would be nice classy car with some sporty flare would be nice but that's not in Toyota vocabulary. I think they would price it out of market if they brought the Mark X over. Although isn't one of the Lexus models based on that platform??
I don't think that Toyota would purposely price an imported Mark X out of the market. Why go to the expense of importing it only to price it so that nobody buys it? I also don't agree that a classy car with some sporty flare is not in the Toyota vocabulary -- the Mark X is evidence of that. I think that this is not in Toyota North America's vocabulary.
But, we can hope, can we not? And with the North American car companies starting to bring out RWD performance-oriented cars (300, Charger, Challenger, G8, Camaro, maybe an Australian Ford Falcon-based car), maybe Toyota will see that there is a market for this type of car. Toyota will import the car only if they think there is a market for it, and if the Americans are able to prove that there is enough of a market for this type of vehicle, maybe Toyota will follow. So maybe we should encourage people to buy the G8 (only to see GM kill Pontiac?!?!?).
I had read that the Lexus GS and the Mark X share a platform.
I think that guy that works at the Georgetown plant and trolls this board could confirm... but I thought the Venza was a U.S. 'domesticated'-only version of the MarkX Zio. When you look at the basics of the cars, they are remarkably similar. It's the outside packaging and different dash that's the main difference. Although I'm still scratching my head why the Venza didn't get the trick up-to-7 passenger seating arrangement from the Zio anyway.
So consider this. What if they brought the hydrogen Zio over as a way to quickly validate/test the drivetrain before deploying it as a mid-cycle refresh for the Venza (assuming it sells). Or maybe they're simply doing hot-weather testing in Death Valley, but it will be sold in the Mideast or other left-hand drive markets?
I think that guy that works at the Georgetown plant and trolls this board could confirm... but I thought the Venza was a U.S. 'domesticated'-only version of the MarkX Zio. When you look at the basics of the cars, they are remarkably similar. It's the outside packaging and different dash that's the main difference. Although I'm still scratching my head why the Venza didn't get the trick up-to-7 passenger seating arrangement from the Zio anyway.
So consider this. What if they brought the hydrogen Zio over as a way to quickly validate/test the drivetrain before deploying it as a mid-cycle refresh for the Venza (assuming it sells). Or maybe they're simply doing hot-weather testing in Death Valley, but it will be sold in the Mideast or other left-hand drive markets?
Just a thought...
Good points!
The only comment I have is that I think that the hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicle will still be in the experimental stages for quite a few years yet, if only because the hydrogen-refueling infrastructure is not there. Consider that the Venza's mid-cycle refresh is 3 years after its introduction, which would make it 2012. I don't even think that large areas of California will have a hydrogen-refueling infrastructure by that time, much less the rest of North America. So, I doubt that there will be a fuel cell-powered Venza available for commercial use in 2012.
Maybe there will be limited, pseudo-commercial testing, as the Honda FCX Clarity is doing by having it leased out to select customers. So, the Death Valley testing (and maybe cold weather testing) is a possibility.
Know why it's testing in the U.S.? It's the 2009 Venza.
The Mark X Zio underpins the new Venza. You can tell. The front and rear fascias are different, but the sheetmetal and profile are the same.
Why would Toyota need the Mark X ZiO as a test mule for the Venza when they have already shown the production-ready Venza? Why not just use prototype Venzas as test vehicles?
Additionally, the platform under the ZiO may be the same as the platform under the Venza (essentially the Camry platform), but the Venza is a larger vehicle: the ZiO is smaller -- shorter and narrower, and it seems to sit lower to the ground -- than the Venza, so the vehicle dynamics will likely be different.
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then read the "ZIO" part... 
... the sedan as the replacement for the Avalon, and the ZiO as the basis for the Venza (although I am not a fan of the ZiO's jelly bean look).
I too will pass, if it was the Mark X sedan, then for me...buy! My dad always wanted a cheaper GS and doesn't want it too soft either.
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