The ‘Pivo”
New Car Aimed at Drivers With Parking Woes
TOKYO–The Pivo, shown Friday at a Tokyo Nissan showroom, is still an experimental model and probably won’t go on sale publicly for several years. It is a three-seater electric car that looks like a big egg on wheels. Its body revolves in a complete circle while its wheels stay put ….more….
This is fun and everything but it really doesn’t address the problems of parallel parking. Having 4-wheel steering (as Honda used to market) made parking easier by turning the rear and front wheels at the same time allowing a car to move straight out from a parallel parking slot. Sad to say, most aggressive 4-wheel steering systems were abandoned because of its excessive weight and now cars sold with a more passive style of “rear active” steering (such as my new Nissan Fuga GT/Infiniti 350) which only modestly changes the steering geometry of all four wheels.
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October 1st, 2005 at 9:07 pm
Dude, your’ve forgetting the obvious— Japan has not invented diagonal parking yet and by law (and social convention) you must back into a parking spot with your car facing forward. That’s a bit tricky in Japan’s hellish traffic.
October 1st, 2005 at 11:35 pm
Ok, I just sent this to another gaijin….
Parking is super tight in Japan. Many Japanese have very few hours of driving practice —called “paper drivers“(ペーパードライバー) they only have a paper license but little skill. With the Pivo, you drive in and park. Then, when it’s time to leave, you spin the cabin around, with the bottom half of the body remaining static, and drive straight out the way you came. This makes it easy and your less likely to hit by the crazy traffic pulling in to a parking spot.
October 2nd, 2005 at 11:05 am
Another thought:
This Pivo is for really timid Japanese drivers. Japan has maybe the largest percentage in the world of “paper drivers” who fret about their poor skills. It’s strange to hear many Japanese whine about being afraid of their driving.
August 24th, 2007 at 8:08 pm
Dear Sir/Madam,
This is the best vehicle, driver can run anywhere at any circumstances. If it’s possible, please make this four-seated vehicle.
Thank you.
With Regards.
Shree kantha
Davan gere
Kar nataka
India