Wheels of the weird and wonderful: how the 2025 Japan Mobility Show met its brief

Many old school motor shows have rebranded in recent years from out-and-out car events to ones that would purport to cover other forms of transport too, usually with the word ‘mobility’ somewhere within the new naming strategy.

The reasons are many, but have something to do with motor shows being perceived by the industry as lacking marketing innovation, costing too much and creating too much competitive noise (compared to separate brand and model launches elsewhere).

There’s also a wider public perception that motor shows are societally outdated – too closely associated with 20th Century petrolheads, shiny metal and show girls for a post-COVID, climate change-alert 21st Century world now halfway into its second decade.

But too often, these new ‘mobility exhibitions’ are still basically car shows in disguise, perhaps with a few e-bikes thrown in. Thankfully, the Japan Mobility Show (JMS) is different. Changing its name from the Tokyo Motor Show two years ago for its inaugural exhibition in 2023, the biennial event really does show original thinking in (private) transportation of many forms.

The 2025 expo still featured a lot of concept cars – from large and high-sided, six-wheeler luxury MPVs (Lexus LS) to stylish micro mini vans (Daihatsu Kayoibako-K) but also flying vehicles (Toyota x Joby eVTOL), sustainable rockets and electric motorbikes (Honda) and even a four-legged mobile chair (Toyota Walk Me).

And while the Japan Mobility Show now has a wider transport remit than the Tokyo Motor Show it replaces, it still upholds its forebear’s refreshingly concept-heavy emphasis. More than a million visitors – including this correspondent – attended this year’s 11-day event in late October and early November, suggesting the new format is still attractive and relevant.

Read on for the Top Ten 2025 Japan Mobility Show stars, curated by Wallpaper*.

Lexus LS Concepts

Toyota’s pre-existing luxury marque Lexus had a busy show with a quartet of vehicular ideas suggesting a future family of cars based on its former singular LS model which used to stand for ‘Luxury Sedan’ back at its launch in 1989 but has now been rebranded ‘Luxury Space’.

This neatly allowed Lexus designers wriggle room to think up all manner of luxury vehicle concepts, from a one-seater mobile private throne (the LS Micro Concept); a two-seater Sports Concept, signalling continued, if somewhat conventionally designed dynamic driving intent; a more roomy four-seater LS Coupe Concept and the ‘king of the castle’ LS Concept, notable for its highly unusual six-wheeler format.

The reason? 'The idea came from [group chairman] Akio Toyoda’s request to have this serene space while going through Tokyo to a business meeting,' president of Toyota’s Californian CALTY Design Research studio, Ian Cartabiano explained on the sidelines of the Lexus stand.

'As this concept’s rear wheels are small, there’s a lot less intrusion into the cabin, so we can maximise interior volume. From a design point of view, not only does it allow us to have this more avant-garde exterior, but it creates a new sense of interior space dynamically.' A very distinctive concept.

Lexus.jp

Century Coupé Concept

Century is also a well-established Toyota model name – associated with the brand’s flagship limousine since the late 1960s – but was launched as a luxury brand in its own right at the 2025 Japan Mobility Show.

The large and shapely Century Coupé channels a little Polestar 4 in terms of rearward exterior metal enveloping its rump and replacing its rear window for a cosier cabin. Further inside the Coupé is notable for its First Class aviation-style reclinable seating and a classy and original ‘harp-string’ divider between its ceiling and centre armrest. One to watch.

Century-100.com

Toyota Kids Mobi

The designers of the Kids Mobi concept were clearly carefully listening to the brief when Koji Sato, president and CEO of Toyota Group said he wanted 'to make cars even more beloved and fun.'

The kid car with a difference has pixel eyes that can wink embedded in a curved smoked glass canopy surrounded by a smooth and simple shell covering four, small wheels. Autonomously driven, any child luckily enough to ride inside still has agency on the school run though, with an AI-powered ‘UX Friend’ to chat and converse with.

Global.Toyota

Mini Paul Smith Edition

Mini was one of the few non-Japanese brands to exhibit at JMS but there was good logic in the global unveil of its Paul Smith Edition in Tokyo. The British fashion label is a massive overachiever in Japan with circa 150 stores – compared to 15 in its home market in the UK – and after previous limited production runs and concept cars, the 2025 Mini Paul Smith Edition has become a permanent trim level for the Cooper range.

Successfully featuring the veteran designer’s unusual exterior colour combinations paired with non-automotive interior design material and finish choices, the car also unsurprisingly includes a few signature stripes.

But beyond the two British brand’s synergies and shared history, the considered final execution makes this vehicle line a rare example of a credible car x fashion collaboration you can actually buy. You can read our interview with Sir Paul here.

Mini.co.uk

Mazda Vision X-Coupe

Elegant and smooth exterior surfacing have become givens at Mazda since its Kodo Design philosophy was introduced more than a decade ago. The plug-in hybrid 2025 X-Coupe concept continues that visual direction – with a particularly interesting rear three-quarter bodywork and rear light integration.

In addition, Mazda says, the car is designed to use carbon-neutral fuel refined from microalgae and can also capture CO2 emissions directly from its exhaust to be recycled to boost crop growth or help make high-performance carbon materials.

InsideMazda.co.uk

Mitsubishi Elevance

The Mitsubishi Group makes so many things – across huge sectors from chemical and mining, to electronics and metallurgy – that it sometimes appears less than bothered by its automotive arm’s fortunes and indeed has pulled back or even out of vehicle sales in many significant countries in recent years.

Against that backdrop, the brand’s quietness in terms of advanced concept cars comes as no surprise, but the unveiling of the Mitsubishi Elevance in Tokyo suggests its design team still has ambition, when allowed to flex its creative muscles. The chunky plug-in hybrid SUV concept sports see-through doors to better see more of the surrounding outdoors and the shapely trailer attached should mean leisure adventurers in a Mitsubishi can go further.

Mitubishi-Motors.com

Toyota IMV Origin

Conceived for customers in rural Africa whose everyday life could do with being less adventurous (or at least arduous), Toyota proposed the self-assembly and customisable IMV Origin vehicle.

Designed to be straightforward enough to construct locally without the need for an expensive factory or training, the utilitarian and stripped-out buggy-cum-cargo carrier has also been developed to be modular enough to be repeatedly adapted for varied customers’ use cases, channelling what Toyota calls 'the concept of deliberate incompleteness'.

Global.Toyota

Daihatsu Midget X

At only 2.2-metres long and under 1.3 metres wide, this one-plus-two-seater concept – channelling the super-compact form of its late 1950s forebear – is spot-on as a short-mile electric vehicle solution. Its round LED headlamps on stalks are ‘digital cute’ personified too. But if Daihatsu wants to market it further than Japan it might want to reconsider its 21st Century model naming strategy.

Daihatsu.com

Honda EV Outlier concept bike

Electric-powered motorbikes are giving designers new packaging possibilities and the Honda EV Outlier – featuring in-wheel motors on both front and rear wheels – provides such a showcase. And with its dynamic and clear front canopy looks epic with it.

Global.Honda

Toyota Corolla

Surpassing the VW Beetle as the best-selling vehicle nameplate of all time since 1997, the Toyota Corolla has proved successful as a reliable if slightly unexciting global mainstream smash hit across 12 generations since the mid-1960s, variously in saloon, estate and latterly hatchback formats.

So the Corolla concept at the Japan Mobility Show represented something of a surprise with its more interesting exterior body work – note the downward-dropping front door shoulder line detail just behind the A-pillar for one – as well as a more spacious-feeling interior. It seems plenty of this saloon’s essence could make production too, with next-gen models expected very late 2026.

Global.Toyota