IQ Car - a smart car for the future!

As urban roads and highways become increasingly congested with traffic, one of the latest trends in automaking is the extreme downsizing of the car. The Smart Car has done very well in Europe with its ultrasmall size, modern design and great gas mileage, while the MINI Cooper and other MINI models have reemerged to immense popularity.

Toru Yamanaka/Getty Images Katsuaki Watanabe, president of Japan's auto giant Toyota Motor, introduces the fuel-efficient and low-emission iQ Car.

These vehicles have proven to be a boon for people looking to save on gas money and skip out on parallel parking, but there's one obvious aspect that drivers are forced to sacrifice with an ultracompact car -- the availability of space. Some might be able to get by fine in a tiny car, but travelers or larger families might have trouble carrying bigger loads with just two seats and very little trunk space.

Toyota is attempting to address this dilemma with its own take on the minicar, a four-seat passenger vehicle called the iQ Car. At just under 10 feet long and about 5-and-a-half feet wide, the iQ is an example of innovative design and technology -- everything from the seating arrangements to the miniaturized front console controls is taken into account. Although it's slightly bigger than Daimler-Chysler's Smart Car, it's still much smaller than the average 14- or 15- foot-long compact car. The iQ is also in clear competition with the Smart Car, as both names are obvious references to resourcefulness.

IQ car specs

The iQ Car concept came to life at ED2, Toyota's European design facility in Nice, France, and debuted at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2007. One of the first things people usually wonder about a minicar is what kind of engine powers it. Is it a gasoline engine? Is it a hybrid? Is it a pure electric car?

John MacDougall/AFP/Getty Images Rumors about Toyota partnering with Yamaha on the iQ suggest the minicar will come equipped with a motorcycle engine.

The iQ appears to have none of the above. Since it's still technically a concept at this point, not much is known about what's under the iQ's hood, but rumors suggest that Toyota is partnering with Yamaha to make a 1-liter motorcycle engine. Although the company hasn't released any further information regarding engine capacity or the number of cylinders, a motorcycle engine may translate to good gas mileage if the iQ's weight is kept low. Still, the two companies may end up unveiling something completely different by the time 2008 comes to an end.

So how does Toyota manage to fit three adults and one small child into such a small car? The tires of the iQ are pushed out to the corners and shrunken down to a very low 17 inches, leaving more room for your feet. Initially, the car seems like any other two-seater minicar, but sliding the front seats forward offers two more seats, one for an adult and another for a child. Since the steering wheel doesn't allow the driver's seat to move forward, a small child is able to fit behind the driver, but there's enough room on the passenger side to fit one adult in front and another right behind after adjusting the seat.

Toyota didn't just stop at seating arrangements when managing space. You might not think about it too much, but all the knobs, buttons and gadgets on a car's front console can take up a lot of room. The iQ has all of these technological necessities, but everything's been miniaturized or moved to the steering wheel. Instead of having three separate indicators for speed, rpm and fuel level, a single read-out displays them all together right above the steering column. While audio and navigation controls usually take up most of a center console, those choices are put in the driver's hands as they're moved over to the steering wheel.