Tokyo Motor Show looks to green cars to drive recovery

Japan’s auto industry has taken a triple hit from the global downturn, strong yen and a catastrophic quake,

triple hit or quadruple if you add thousands of 'recalls' world wide.

Some - recalls are part of normal business, and are accounted for even before happening... There were millions of cars recalled, not thousands.

Better a recall than a company that knowingly ignores a problem and refuses responsibility for it.

“Japanese people were able to buy a new car every three or four years before,” Mizuno said, but now “the younger generation cannot afford it.”

Didn't they do this to avoid the excessive shakken charges levied on cars after three years?

I miss the muscle car era of the past. I used to drive a Ford Mustang Mach 1 in the early seventies. The Japanese government should get rid of the (車検) shaken system and all taxes involved in the purchase of a vehicle.

Who ever heard of a green car nation? A pink car nation, or a white car nation, sure. But green must be an hybrid.

mackemack - When you arrive back on Planet Earth, be sure to read the article again.

Green cars are the way to go!!

The export of radioactive cars to Chile and Mongolia etc do not endear Japanese autos to overseas customers either.

“Japanese people were able to buy a new car every three or four years before,” Mizuno said, but now “the younger generation cannot afford it.”

Perhaps the younger generation is sensible enough to understand that buying a brand-new car every three or four years is a monumental waste of money, natural resources, and labor!

Increasingly, young people are spurning the automobile lifestyle altogether. Now that's being green.

This year's models will be awesome.

Green cars maybe the way to go but japanese like white, grey and black cars the most.