Teeny-Tiny Yamaha Cross Hub Compact Pickup Concept Debuts at Tokyo Motor Show
And one might say it’s an acquired taste.
The Yamaha Cross Hub Concept pickup truck that just debuted at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show sounds good on paper...but boy, is it an acquired taste in the looks department.
Art first, this Yamaha certain certainly sounds pretty interesting. This compact pickup is approximately three feet shorter than the Toyota Tacoma pickup, yet it's still able to seat four occupants, thanks to a weird 1+2+1 seating arrangement. (Think McLaren F1, but with one extra seat in a third row.)
Unfortunately, the appeal starts to fade after you take your initial look at this baby truck. At first glance, you see a few bulging fenders and aggressive headlights....which are then quickly followed up with about 100 more lines, vents, and confusing curves. Due to the small size of the pickup, all the design cues appear to blend together, leaving it looking awfully cluttered. It essentially looks like Yamaha combined the Sidewinder M-TX LE 153 snowmobile and Viking VI EPS SE side-by-side, and then blew up the resulting vehicle to a car-sized scale.
However, we have to remember this is just a fun concept, not necessarily a production possibility. Indeed, it might not even be close to what a production compact pickup from Yamaha might be like. Still, Yamaha says the concept can hold two motorcycles—which definitely makes the idea of it heading to production seem enticing.
That said—after looking at this compact concept pickup, we at The Drive starting thinking about how you could save space (or length) in a truck without compromising utility. We kept falling back to more of a cab-over configuration, but we would love to hear your ideas. Let us know in the comments below.
