Toyota's 1007 clone!

[Ion Pulse]

Peugeot recently took the wraps of it new niche city-car the 1007. Which I rather like because of its felxible interior, innovative(and unique) sliding doors and smart exterior styling. Toyota has also very recently unvieled its latest city car called the Porte. Which has a scarey resemblance to the stylish Peugeot. It to offers sliding doors and similar interior layout. The Porte uses either a 1.3 or 1.5VVT engine from the Yaris. When I first saw this I thought it was a joint venture between Toyota and Peugeot, like the new 107/Yaris and Citroen C0 will be but its not. This saddens me because Peugeot had finally got something unique in its range and Toyota copies it just because it has now design flair of its own.


The original, Peugeot's 1007

The fake, Toyota's Porte

[Guido]

A copy will never beat the original, so Peugeot is the better looking car, by far. The Toyota's nose alone... yuck.

[Ion Pulse]

Your right the Toyota does look pretty ugly compared to the Peugeot but what about reliability?

They both offer electric sliding doors and I'm affraid I don't trust French electrics that much. Take a look at all the teething problems the 206CC had and still has some up to this day. Whereas Toyota have a reputation for building bullet proof cars. It may be ugly but in long run perhaps the better bet.

[Jimster]

I wouldn't let that Toyota anywhere near my house...... The 1007 is elegant, but I don't trust French electric doors at all.....

I think in the long run a Toyota Yaris 1.0 3 door would be better than both of them.

[Ran]

In my opinion although toyota has its name for reliablity and so on, it's a car that is faked in a bad way, atleast they could be creative and make soemthing thats actually nice and you wouldn't be ashamed in driving it.

The combination toyota has made is redicules. They placed a huge front windshild, sort of truckish front, the wheels look like they were referenced out of some little scooter and after all this car looks like the back is front, and front is back. Although all this I'm sure it is a concept, and I hope toyota change it to a more genuin toyota feeling, and not just scramble a truck, pickup, scooter and make it a fake 1007.

[Ran]

Ok guys I found the reason for this, it's not a clone, more of a car that peugeot, citroen and toyota have been working on thoghether.

As peugeot released at the 1/12/04:

PSA Peugeot Citroën and Toyota Show Styling of Three Jointly Developed Cars

PSA Peugeot Citroën and Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) announced today that after three years of productive collaboration they are getting closer to realizing the fruit of their joint project to design, develop and produce three all-new small passenger cars for the European market. To mark their progress so far, the two companies decided to give faces to the already named Peugeot 107, Toyota Aygo and Citroën C1 by making available the first-ever official photograph of these modern four-passenger vehicles, which are set for a 2005 sales launch and their world unveiling at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

While they share a large number of structural components, parts and sub-assemblies, the Peugeot 107, Toyota Aygo and Citroën C1 each have unique body styles that express the personalities of the Peugeot, Citroën and Toyota marques.

All three vehicles measure about 3.4 meters long, 1.6 meters wide and 1.4 meters high (details in chart). Powered by the latest generation 1.0-liter gasoline and 1.4-liter diesel engines, the compact, fuel-efficient cars also feature advanced safety and environmental protection technologies. These three new models will offer an engaging driving experience in the urban environment. The cars are primarily designed for European markets, where demand for this type of entry-level vehicle is expected to increase.

Developed on a common platform, all three cars will begin rolling off the line at the Toyota Peugeot Citroën Automobile (TPCA) plant in Kolín, Czech Republic in 2005. Vehicle development and plant construction have proceeded on schedule, as announced by both companies in July 2001. The plant will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles  200,000 units for Peugeot and Citroën and 100,000 for Toyota.

The project is expected to contribute widely to the local community in terms of direct and indirect employment. It has already created 1,500 jobs at TPCA, with 1,500 more people expected to be hired for a total of 3,000. Total investment, including research and development and production start-up costs, is estimated at € 1.5 billion.

I hope this clears it up.

[Ion Pulse]

I knew about THIS joint venture, but as for the 1007 and Porte they are totally separate projects. Aparently the Porte is based on a concept shown at 2003 Tokyo's motorshow. Its just happened by chance...although my choice would still be the 1007.

Have you seen the R/C version yet?, does'nt it look wild.

[webweasel]

All of these cars are based on the concept of the micro-van. This could become the car of the future, well, at least for people who dont care what their car looks like,or want something with quirky styling. If you do some measurements and compare the numbers with those of other cars, you will see that this type of car is very efficient. The problem is it looks more like a toy than something people would want to buy. It looks like a passenger compartment without a trunk or engine compartment. This may be the shape of things to come. At this years auto shows peugeot will be showing a new concept car called the moovie. Its even smaller than the 1007 and seems to be missing its wheels doors and windows.

[Ran]

Thanks for that information!