We’re back! The Japan Mobility Show, formally known as the Tokyo Motor Show, held every two years is back in full force. Things have been pretty dire recently in the automotive world with shifting norms and trends coming and leaving before making any lasting impacts. However, if this years’ premier Japanese automotive trade show is anything to go by, things are starting to look fun again for the Japanese auto industry.
The star of the show for me was the Toyota hall. The JMS2025 show did feel like Toyota’s show and everyone else was just lucky to be invited. Toyota Motor Corporation had an entire hall to themselves at the Tokyo Big Sight convention hall that hosted the show. The big announcement was the spin off of Century into TMC’s own super luxury standalone brand to sit above Lexus in the Toyota food chain. They did this by showing a one-off high riding Coupe Concept aimed at showing what was possible for the Century brand. There’s no word on whether a production version of this will ever come to fruition but a Century spokesperson did say “depending on customer demands it’s always a possibility”.
Sharing the hall was Lexus which showed off a trio of ‘LS’ concepts. The Lexus Sport Concept was my other highlight of the show. Just look at it. It previews a future GT for the Lexus brand as well as showing the design direction of future Lexus interiors. Speaking of interiors, the LS Concept has turned the once flagship sedan into a cyberpunk six-wheeled minivan like a Lexus LM on steroids. After all, they kept insisting LS means ‘Luxury Space’. Finally rounding out the trio of concepts is the LS Coupe Concept which is a crossover that’ll probably reach production in a couple years. Whenever I tried to press Lexus staff on details on any of the cars they simply said “they’re concept cars, we can’t give any more details”. A shame as I really would love to have one of those Sport Concepts.
Powertrains in general weren’t discussed much throughout the show as it seems to be a pivotal moment for auto makers as they choose to remain all in on their BEV investments or divest and move towards alternatives. Toyota for the most part has been stubborn to full BEV adoption which has proven to be the right move for them as competitors are now scrambling to scale back after seeing declining demand and sales.
At the rest of the Toyota hall we had a concept that previews the next generation of Corolla, a Hiace Concept, and of course the much talked about FJ Cruiser. Initial impressions are that it’s rather cute but the rear legroom is surprisingly small. Daihatsu showed us the reimagined S-FR Concept in the form of the K-Open Concept which turns the Copen into a FR sports car, a change from its current FF configuration.
Other highlights from the JMS2025 show include Honda’s trio of Honda 0 Concepts and the Super One EV with its boxy flares. Mazda showed off a pair of concepts including the Vision X- Coupe which mates a turbocharged two-rotor engine with a plug hybrid motor and battery for a combined 375kW output and a range of around 800km. Subaru showed off a pair of STI concepts, one being the Performance-E STI Concept showing what a future Subaru EV sports car could look like while the Performance-B STI Concept teases us with a manual, Boxer engine, AWD hot hatch. Oh please Subaru, do this one first.
Other cars of note was the new Nissan Elgrand, a premium minivan set to compete against the Toyota Alphard. BYD, the Chinese EV giant, has also set its sights on Japan domination with the Racco. Taking direct aim at the kei-car segment, which makes up 40% of new car sales in Japan, this is BYD showing its strength of force to the Japanese auto industry.
That’s the Japan Mobility Show for 2025. A lot of exciting prospects for the years ahead, whether the cars in the next couple years will be EV, hybrid, or ICE, there’s certainly many cars to keep an eye on. Have a look through the gallery below to see the best of the rest.
