back to article Honda goes NUTs for future micro-car

Honda has whipped the dust covers of its vision of the small, urban coupé of tomorrow at the LA Auto Show. The Personal Neo Urban Transport - or P-NUT - seats three with the driver amidships and fits within the diminutive footprint of a micro-car. Honda P-NUT Honda's P-NUT: US notion of a micro-car Or rather within the …

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  1. Stu
    Pirate

    OMFGG

    The designs for mini-e-commuter vehicles are just getting worse and worse! This one has both a stupid name AND a stupid darth vader-esque front!

    Unbelievably bad.

  2. Neil 6

    A car without pedals...

    ...is a mobility scooter.

  3. Anton Ivanov
    FAIL

    Yeah, microcar some other time.

    Off the top of my head this is actually larger than some cars which in EU are considered as supermini like the Sirion or the Micra. Modus is roughly the same size as well. They all seat 4+ and have reasonable luggage space.

  4. Code Monkey

    Yawn

    Another 6th form design and technology project. Wake me up when there's a real car.

  5. D@v3
    Thumb Down

    No pedals....

    How's that supposed to work? Push steering device in to go faster, pull it back out to slow down (or vice versa).

    Will this mean all of us pedal users having to re-learn (or re-take tests) to show that we can still drive using a completely different system?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Why ?

    There is a huge amount of space wasted at the front.

    Why get rid of the peddles.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Why?

      It's PEDALS you imbecile.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    No pedals...

    Simple reason....

    The yanks with there huge lard arses find pushin a pedal every few hours to much like hard work, so less is better. If they could do without the effort of turning the steering wheel as well, then they would be in blubber heaven.

  8. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

    Re: Honda goes NUTs for future micro-car

    Judging by the shapes waddling down Britain's High Streets, I don't think the US has a monopoly on the overweight.

  9. Bassey

    P-NUT

    The name seems very apt. I find myself going into anaphylactic shock at the mere sight of the thing.

  10. Greg D
    FAIL

    I've designed and built better looking go-karts

    From wood.

    'nuff said really.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Shuttlecraft... now with more blind spots!

    Title says it all, really.

  12. Max 12

    Ouch

    OW, MY EYES!

  13. leakyPC
    FAIL

    The title is required, and must contain abcd and/or 1234.

    I would get rid of a steering system altogether and just place WSAD keys in front and space for handbrake

    Than anyone who's played a computer driving game will be able to transfer there skills to driving a car.

    Pointless concept car though, I though they were supposed to push the boundary's not just show how little imagination the car companies had.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Don't ya love it?

    FUGLY doesn't begin to describe this POS. I'd like to see the crash testing results on this model and personal injuries data. The driver would be like a bug hitting the windshield @ 200 km.

  15. stizzleswick
    Stop

    An engineering nightmare.

    From what I can make out from the pictures, this thing has no crumple zone at all at the front. Probably would not even get certified for road use in most european countries for that reason. Why is it that, whenever designers get carte blanche for a concept design, the result is ugly, impractical (yoke steering? Pull the other one...) and completely un-roadworthy?

    They should let a bunch of engineers start with a clean sheet and see what comes of that. Probably not a beauty, but it would be practical and a lot more affordable.

  16. Paul RND*1000
    FAIL

    How?

    How am I supposed to drive a car with no pedals when I'm also trying to eat a burger and talk on the cellphone all at the same time? Steering with your elbows is tricky enough without having to control speed with them too!

    It'll never catch on.

  17. I didn't do IT.
    Boffin

    Don't you see?!

    This is actually the HEAD of the next gen Japanime robot that assembles from multiple vehicles.

    Dibs on the submersible aircraft checkplate!

  18. Kevin Reader
    FAIL

    Wasted Space and Blindspots

    As others have said but it needs saying again - 80% of the vehicle road space from level with the driver is wasted - the spaces beside the driver, and all the front except their legs and the wheels. The A pillars now occupy the majority of the front view and the descending roof line affects the view to the front quarters. Should counter any US population explosion quite quickly.

    In 1980 Ford Motor Co used to have those on the undergraduate induction do a half day design & marketing study for an imagined new vehicle codenamed the "Camel Project". This obviously led to loads of presentation and visual jokes involving humps, etc. The designs we came up with were ALL better than this and we'd only worked for a car firm for about 4 days!! Its hard to see how this could be less practical.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    No.

    Just no...

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    This is what happens when...

    someone gets caught by the boss sketching manga robot faces whilest there supposed to be working...then gets forced to present the design...

  21. foo_bar_baz
    Coat

    Look at the face on that

    If there ever was an obvious Autobot...

  22. Andy 70

    not everyone lives in cities, show it a motorway

    why do almost all future leccy concepts look like they were designed in-house by Lexus?

    fuggin ugly!

    not only am i saving the planet, but i have sacraficed my dignity, taste, and style in one hit! go team autobot!

  23. John Robson Silver badge

    Good concept

    Lousy design

    I've been thinking about an e-commuter with a similar layout for a while, but it doesn't need to be the ugliest thing on the road.

    I'm no Bertone, but that means I stick with a classic design, like the mini, in my head...

  24. codemonkey

    Accessible Car Alert!

    That's a win! A car with no pedals!!

    "does without pedals leaving the driver to control the vehicle using a steering yoke."

    Brill :)

  25. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Down

    handy for wheelchair users then

    As no adaption costs.

    Neat.

    Pig ugly but neat.

    Now what about the rest of us.

    Thumbs down beacuse their is a reason no mainstream car mfg makes models specifically for the "other bodied."

  26. Pete James

    Dear Lord

    Normally I defend stylists as they are presenting nothing more than ideas.

    In this case however, I can't even begin to think of a single redeeming feature.

    It's utter, utter rubbish.

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