CARS OF THE WORLD

Toyota Mirai 2024.

The 2024 Toyota Mirai will receive an updated interior and new technologies.

The Japanese Mirai now features the latest Toyota Safety Sense system.

The Japanese automaker has announced several updates for 2024.

The 2024 Mirai launches in Japan on December 18th. Safety will be doubled as the model is now equipped with the latest Toyota Safety Sense system.

The company didn’t go into detail, but said drivers will find a proactive driving assist feature that provides steering assistance and steering assistance.

Motorists will also find a pre-collision system with pedestrian and cyclist detection, cross-traffic awareness, lane departure warning and lane change assist.

Customers can also look forward to adaptive cruise control, automatic high beams, traffic sign assist and a blind spot monitor.

In addition to traditional driver assistance systems, the Japanese Mirai will continue to be offered with the Teammate semi-autonomous driving system.

There’s also an Advanced Park feature that «allows anyone to park safely and smoothly.»

Additional changes are limited, but more trim levels now feature 12.3-inch displays. There’s also a new 64-color ambient lighting system and number key technology.

Toyota hasn’t mentioned any powertrain upgrades, but expect three hydrogen storage tanks, a fuel cell, a 1.24 kWh lithium-ion battery and a 182 hp electric motor that powers the rear wheels.

The hydrogen Toyota Mirai sedan never became popular. The technical director of the brand, Hiroki Nakajima, admitted that the project was not successful: the fact is that the infrastructure for cars using hydrogen fuel cells is poorly developed — for example, in the United States there are only 57 hydrogen filling stations, and they are all located in one state, in California.

As a result, over the nine months of 2023, the brand managed to sell 2.6 thousand Mirai units — although this is more than last year, but only because of the low base of 2022.

The publication Autocar quotes the words of Toyota technical director Hiroki Nakajima: during the Japan Mobility Show, which is taking place these days in Tokyo, he said that to popularize hydrogen cars, more gas stations are needed, and due to their absence, the project of the hydrogen Mirai “never became successful.»

Nakajima believes that hydrogen fuel cells are more suitable not for ordinary passenger cars, but for commercial ones that drive between two specific points.

So Toyota decided to focus on this area, and Suzuki will help it in this.

As for the Mirai, since its appearance on the market in 2014, the model has sold around the world in the amount of about 15 thousand copies, with most of the hydrogen vehicles sold in the USA.

In 2020, the model changed generations, moved to the TNGA GA-L platform and became more technologically advanced.

And at the end of 2022, the Mirai underwent restyling and acquired an HD display for the multimedia system, which now displays information in full screen mode.

The Mirai is powered by a fuel cell engine — hydrogen is converted through an electrochemical reaction into electricity, which powers the traction motors.

The power of the drive electric motor is 184 horsepower, and hydrogen is stored in three cylinders.

The power reserve is 750-850 kilometers. For comparison, the first generation Mirai traveled 650 kilometers.