So yeah, by now you've figured out that the guys working on promoting the Toyota Auris in Japan don't think like regular folk. There was that one incident with the androgynous model with a nice bum, and now giant robots from a futuristic, semi-Germanic world.
So yeah, the mighty Toyota Auris now stars in its own Japanese anime (is there any other kind?), in which it's been branded the "Zeonic Toyota". Zeonic is a fictional armed faction from the Gundam universe, where nations fight each other using giant robots. You can see their crest all over the Auris, most noticeably at the front, where it replaces the normal badge.
Oddly enough, the branding comes not from the much newer Mobile Suit Gundam 00 series, but from a retro series called Mobile Suit Gundam, which aired between 1979 and 1980. One of the main characters is Char Aznable, the blond fellow who drives a giant red robot. Even though he prances around town in a war machine with lasers, Char say "so this is the car of the future?" when spotting the hatchback.
The odd thing is Toyota actually built the car, featuring things like 18-inch wheels, all the trick body parts and a fresh color, not to mention a quad exhaust and a bespoke interior.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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