Concept cars take center stage at Tokyo Motor Show

Suzuki showed off a number of concept cars, including the Regina, which appears to have been inspired by the cuttlefish. Its swoopy looks aren't all just for show: Suzuki says the Regina's drag coefficient is 10 percent lower than a comparable model.

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The Sho Case from Daihatsu looks like it could be the perfect lunch truck of the future. The steering wheel and seats stow away for — well, we're really not sure. But it looks freakishly interesting. Below the floor is a hydrogen fuel-cell stack that generates power without the need for expensive rare-earth metals.

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This future-friendly Honda Micro Commuter concept car is a tiny electric vehicle with airplane-like controls and a maximum speed of 37 mph — and it can display custom messages to the outside world via a two-way glass dashboard.

Bing: Micro Cars

Another world premier for Toyota was the Fun-Vii, an extremely future-forward 3-seater concept meant to be as much an Internet application as a car. The skin of the Fun-Vii is a screen that can be customized via smartphone, and the car can communicate with nearby vehicles for safety and social networking.

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Though it's not our first time seeing the BMW i8, this plug-in hybrid gull-wing beauty certainly does make an impression. Under the skin is a 3-cylinder diesel engine plus two electric motors. The i8 can sprint from zero to 60 mph in 4.8 seconds, and can travel 22 miles in pure electric mode and 430 miles on a full battery and a full tank of liquid fuel. Though the i8 began as a fanciful proof of concept, BMW says it will enter production in 2013.

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The smart fortwo is a pretty lightweight microcar. Even so, smart thought it could go even lighter and extract more energy efficiency from its dainty runabout. Enter the forvision. The smart forvision may share its basic stance and profile with the smart fortwo, but that is pretty much where the similarities end. The forvision borrows a lot of its styling — taillights, wheels, fascia designs — from the forspeed concept that smart brought to the 2011 Geneva Motor Show, but adds a perforated roof with translucent holes that allow light to filter from above but that also double as solar panels to help support this little electric vehicle's power system. What is cooler than that?

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The Mercedes-Benz A-Class concept is stunning to behold. It draws design inspiration from aluminum aircraft bodies, and its grille has a fantastic effect when seen in person. This 4-seater is outfitted with a 4-cylinder turbo gasoline engine, but the chassis has been engineered to allow for a double floor that can house fuel-cell and battery electric systems.

View Pictures:  Mercedes-Benz A-Class Concept

Maybe Subaru is trying to dispel the image that a wagon can't be thrilling to look at. If so, the Advanced Tourer is doing a great job. The combination of gull-wing and suicide doors looks great, as does the entire car when closed up. Under the hood is a horizontally opposed boxer engine — all-wheel drive, of course — combined with a single electric-motor hybrid system.

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Nissan's latest concept electric vehicle provides extreme agility and efficiency. All four wheels of this tiny urban commuter are independently powered and controlled, allowing the Pivo to maneuver into daunting parking spaces and make U-turns in tight alleys. Plus, its tech amenities are too many to start listing here.

Bing Images: Nissan Pivo

Jacob Gordon is a freelance writer, a blogger for TreeHugger.com and a producer of TreeHugger Radio. He can be reached at jacob@treehugger.com.