A rotary engine is a type of car engine that uses a spinning triangle instead of the usual pistons. It’s smaller and runs smoothly, but can use more fuel.
Mazda is a car company from Japan that makes cars like the RX‑7 with a special engine type.
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Welcome to this Weekend Drive edition of Daily Drive for the first week in November 2025.
I'm Kellan Walker in Las Vegas.
We're breaking down some of the biggest stories in the auto industry from the past week
and looking forward to what's in store in the days ahead.
This week, two-thirds of the show is coming to you from Tokyo,
where they're covering this year's Japan Mobility Show.
Larry Veloquette covers Toyota and Subaru for us at Automotive News.
Larry Legend, I know you're tired.
Welcome back to Weekend Drive.
It's kind of hard to hear you, Kell, because there's a 12-hour time difference
right now between when you speak and when I hear you.
I know your sleep is all messed up.
And Hans Greimel is Asia Editor for Automotive News.
Hans, this is just another day at the office for you.
Hans, welcome to Weekend Drive.
Thank you.
Great to be here, Kell.
All right, guys.
So let's just start with your personal highlights from this year's show.
Hans, describe the atmosphere there at the show
and what's the one thing that has stuck out to you the most?
Well, the atmosphere this year is really kind of a resurgence of the show's energy and vibrance.
It used to be one of the world's standout shows.
Then it went through some hard times, really took a beating during the COVID pandemic.
But it's bounced back.
And you see some vitality here.
And it's largely because of the efforts of the Japanese automakers.
It's still not on the whistle stop for a lot of the global players.
They're not doing a lot of global debuts here, world premieres here.
But the Japanese are saving this as their main stage for their big announcements of the year.
So you see it really anchored by the Japanese.
And one player in particular, and that's Toyota, the world's biggest automaker,
the backbone of Japan's economy.
And it is here in force, really the star of the whole show,
basically taking over an entire hall all by itself for the whole group.
And it's a showcase there of everything Toyota,
from the main brand, Toyota, to Lexus, to Daihatsu, all of its partners.
And then, of course, the new spinoff brand, Century.
Something about that, Hans, does not surprise me.
Larry, what's your top highlight?
The one thing that I'm really impressed with is the number and the variety and scope of concept cars,
that's catnip for auto show consumers, just going there and seeing the funky stuff coming there.
Including, I will point out that Toyota electrified the world's best-selling car,
the cozy coupe, which is the little push car that you give your kid
when he or she is about one or two.
They did this, they put it in a bubble.
They put these funky light eyes on it.
It was pretty cool.
Well, let's talk more about Century and Toyota's plan for the sub-brand.
Now, how important is this going to be for the automaker?
And what will it mean for the all-important U.S. market?
Larry, let's start with you.
So, I think when we talk about the importance of Century,
I think we'll only have to turn to the press conference.
Hans and I were about 20 feet apart watching this.
And saw Akio Toyota kind of choke up,
talking about this brand and about his family's legacy atop Toyota.
And what these vehicles, specifically Century, meant to his family, to his direct ancestors.
They're top-of-the-line, bespoke, handmade cars.
And from a business standpoint, what this signals is that
they're going to try and export these and go after the Rolls Royces of the world, right?
This very, very high market, which is not where Toyota has ever played outside of Japan.
How these are going to get retailed in the U.S. remains to be seen.
We know they're going to be retailed through a subset of Lexus dealers.
Not every Lexus dealer is going to want to do this,
because there is going to be some significant investment involved
and some bespoke hand treatment of their customers, even well beyond what they do now.
They're not certainly going to be a volume, it's not going to be a volume play,
but these vehicles are going to start to show up in the U.S.
And they've always been kind of forbidden fruit
for car collectors, because you have to wait 25 years to bring one in.
Hans, what are your thoughts?
Well, you're right.
It's kind of a fulfillment of the Toyota family dream to
create a top-of-the-line international luxury brand.
And Akio Toyota got really emotional in describing this on stage.
You could almost hear his voice cracking when he was talking about it.
And it was kind of the fulfillment of his grandfather's dream,
Kiichiro Toyota, who died, actually passed away before he could realize
the establishment of Toyota as a real global automotive force.
So he feels as if he's fulfilling the family destiny here by
finally putting Sentry out on the global stage.
And he phrased it, you know, the name of the brand is Sentry.
And he basically said that's not a coincidence, that actually has meaning.
And the meaning is that this is starting a new 100-year cycle for the car company.
You know, Toyota always thinks long-term.
And thinking on a 100-year horizon for Toyota is nothing unusual.
So by actually elevating the brand and creating the space above Lexus,
Toyota says it gives Lexus more freedom to do creative things.
And you saw that firsthand on the stage of Lexus this time when it was coming out
with its six-wheeled vision for what the Lexus LS flagship might be in the future.
It creates a new level, I guess, for Toyota to play in
and gives the Lexus brand some freedom to experiment.
So gentlemen, real quick, let's pivot to Toyota's mass market bread and butter.
Now, they showed off a new Corolla concept.
What's new? What's likely to stick in the production version next year?
And what was the reaction from the crowd?
Well, finally, they are basically giving the Corolla the full treatment.
They are putting it on a revised platform that leverages a new,
basically a new powertrain philosophy or direction.
And that is a new set of engines that are smaller, more compact, more powerful, more efficient.
And that will allow them to basically put these engines in a multi-pathway platform
that accommodates all the powertrains that they have to offer.
Everything from a pure electric vehicle to hybrids, to plug-in hybrids,
to just pure old internal combustion.
And they will roll this out with the world's top-selling car in the Corolla.
And what it allows them to do because of the compact engine compartment
is to open up the internal cabin, give it a lot more internal space,
and also kind of streamline the aerodynamics of the car to give it
kind of a more funky, futuristic styling.
And you see that on display with their concept.
Yeah, and I'll tell you what, it looks sharp.
It really looks nice.
It looks Camry-sized, which you and I, Kel, are old enough to remember
when there was a significant difference between a Corolla and a Camry.
Absolutely.
But if you look at Toyota sales, the Camry is killing it right now.
And the Corolla, dealers cannot keep either one of these in stock.
They push these things through.
They are still popular despite what's happened in the sedan market in the U.S.
So now you're talking about a generational improvement in the Corolla.
Let's hope that's going to come with some plant expansion, some capacity expansion,
because these actually have a future.
I took a look at the engine, talked to their head of powertrain yesterday.
They're thinking 15 to, or I'm sorry, between 10 and 20% more efficient.
Oh, wow.
Yeah.
Oh, wow.
Exactly.
That's, yeah, when you're talking about a Corolla, you're-
How do you get a Corolla to be more efficient?
Right?
I know.
I know.
That's crazy.
It's, you know, but that's the Toyota way.
We're just going to kaizen the hell out of it until we can't do it anymore.
Wow.
Good stuff, guys.
Coming up, we'll turn to some of the lowlights of this year's Japan Mobility Show.
That's next on Weekend Drive.
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Welcome back to Weekend Drive.
I'm Kellan Walker with Larry Beliquette and Hans Grimel.
So before we get to some lowlights, let's talk about China's presence at this year's show.
Which brands were there and what was the impact?
Well, there were a couple of brands there.
There was a truck maker, but most notably, there was BYD.
Of course, that's the world's biggest maker now of electrified vehicles.
And it's on a world conquest tour, basically.
It's really expanding globally in every market, basically, except the United States.
And now it's got its eyes on Japan, which is notorious, of course,
for being hard to crack by foreign automakers.
The foreign brands here have just a sliver of the overall market.
The Americans are basically drummed out of the Japanese market.
But BYD is taking on the so-called K-car market here, the mini car market in Japan.
And that's where the Japanese really have a lock hold on the sales, domestic sales.
And BYD thinks that it can be the first foreign maker to crack that mini car market in Japan.
And it's very unique that they're taking on that challenge.
And if BYD can essentially make it in Japan by cracking the mini car market,
they feel like they can basically make it anywhere.
So it's a very big challenge for them.
And it's a significant move that they're trying to break into the market here.
Yeah, I'll tell you, I love coming to Japan only if doing nothing else than
looking at what drives by, right?
Every time I'm out on the street, because K-cars, for those of our listeners that don't know,
it's like watching little models, you know, little Mario Kart models drive by.
There are also Mario Karts running around the streets of Tokyo now, which is a little jarring.
But I love coming here just to watch cars.
I did see a couple of US-built cars driving around here.
I saw, obviously, some way more German cars, a lot of German luxury cars.
But I don't know that the great wall around, you know,
the great import wall that's existed around Japan, I don't know if that'll stay.
It's quite as high as what it's been anyway.
Interesting.
Now, we've covered some of the high points of this year's Japan Mobility Show.
What about some of the less exciting or questionable reveals?
Larry, let's start with you.
I was kind of taken aback at how many minivans there were.
And I know they're popular here.
And, you know, we're in another market.
But there was a lot of minivans.
And including the six-wheeled Lexus LS concept,
which they made six wheels, according to the designer,
to allow more width room, basically, for the third row.
Interesting.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay, that's an interesting way to go about it.
Yeah, exactly.
I'm trying to, like, picture that in my head, but okay.
Yeah, it was, as they say, polarizing, right?
Wait, real quick, Larry.
So is it like a dually?
Does it look like a dually truck?
Yeah, it's got four wheels on the back.
And it's got four smaller wheels on the back.
And it's got two very large wheels in the front.
So good luck trying to rotate your tires.
But they did it so that the wheel well didn't intrude into the cabin as much.
Yeah, yeah.
Now, that same concept, and it is a concept,
that same concept also had something cool, which is the storage, the luggage,
you know, the cargo space in the back is a tray that comes out.
Then you put the tray out, and then you push it back in.
I thought that was interesting.
You know, it's a different design.
Lexus also showed one of the other concepts that they had is a personal mobility device
that was a, you know, it's a rolling three wheel Barker lounger.
Basically, you know, you're this little cocoon.
Yeah, that's very creative.
Yeah, the front wheels are, you know, they're, they're kind of locked in place.
The rear wheel, the single rear wheel is powered.
And that also does the steering.
You don't have a steering wheel, you have a joystick.
But that, that vehicle is intended to be, you know, autonomous personal transportation
in markets where they don't have the space.
We're not talking about something that's going to,
that's probably going to be on sale in Kansas anytime soon.
But it might be here in Tokyo where there are, what, 37 million people, Hans, something like that?
Yeah, give or take a million.
Give or take, yeah.
Hans, what about you?
Anything you saw that was interesting, or you thought was questionable?
Well, you know, Mazda really stood out this year.
It's a small brand, but kind of big in the United States, especially for its SUVs.
And of course, for its notable sports cars like the Miata.
But here, of course, it uses the Japan stage as a kind of a showcase for its design.
Two years ago, they had the iconic SP, which was really the show stealing concept.
It was super slick, beautiful red sports car, kind of like a RX kind of throwback.
And this year they continued in that tradition with some really great designs.
One is a coupe styled sedan with a really long hood, slopey roof.
And then the other is a really small compact car,
kind of what you can imagine as a next generation Mazda 2.
And both of them look great.
They have a new front fascia.
So it really highlights Mazda's role as a design centered brand, I think.
They really stood out across the whole show in that way.
But at the same time, they are really vlogging the idea of the rotary engine still.
Remember the RX generation where they were famous for their rotary engine?
They were the only real global maker that put it into production.
It was a centerpiece of the brand identity.
It's an engine that kind of circles around like this,
instead of going horizontally opposed with the pistons.
It's very smooth.
But they've had a big trouble trying to get that back into production
because it's just not such a clean engine.
The emissions control on that engine, they're very difficult.
So what their solution is now is to pair it with a bunch of green technologies
to kind of give that rotary engine extra life in the new era of electrification.
So their concept car assumes a lot of crazy futuristic kind of technologies.
One is that first, of course, that it will run on carbon neutral fuel derived from algae.
OK, so that's a check.
You got that.
Then, of course, they assume it's going to have a plug-in hybrid variant
so that it's electrified to some degree.
And then they have a new contraption that they're going to strap onto the exhaust,
kind of like a modern day catalytic converter, if you will.
And that's going to be a carbon capture system
to capture the carbon emissions as it goes out so that it can be sequestered.
So these are the lengths to which Mazda thinks it needs to go
or imagines going in the future, maybe,
in order to keep the rotary engine alive and relevant.
So it's really a lot of ifs.
It's a real modern day science project they've got on their hands there.
But the design as itself is really looking good.
If your only hammer is a rotary engine, then the world is a nail, right?
No matter what you're swinging at, that's your answer.
All right.
Well, Hans, Larry, sounds like you guys are having a good time at the Japan Mobility Show.
Hans, thank you so much for joining.
Thanks, Gal.
And Larry, I'll talk to you soon, friend.
You got it, buddy.
That's all for this Weekend Drive edition of Daily Drive.
I'm Kallen Walker.
Thanks to Automotive News Executive Producer Jake Neer for his help on today's podcast.
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About this episode
The latest Weekend Drive dives into the vibrant atmosphere of the Japan Mobility Show, highlighting Toyota's dominance and the introduction of its luxury sub-brand, Century. Hosts Larry Veloquette and Hans Greimel discuss the resurgence of the show post-pandemic, showcasing innovative concept cars and Toyota's new Corolla design. They also explore BYD's ambitious plans to enter Japan's mini car market and Mazda's efforts to revive the rotary engine with futuristic technologies. The episode captures the excitement and challenges of the automotive landscape in Japan.
Automotive News journalists Hans Greimel and Larry P. Vellequette join the show from Tokyo, where they are covering the 2025 Japan Mobility Show. They discuss the new products on display, involvement from Chinese automakers and some of the more dubious unveilings at this year’s show.
