Thursday, March 04, 2010 TOYAMA: While auto manufacturing giants spend millions to develop environmentally-friendly electric cars, one Japanese company has taken a more low-key approach, crafting hand-made "green" cars. Takeoka Jidosha Kogei may be the antithesis of the world's Hondas and Nissans. The family-run business makes its cars from scratch in a garage workshop in the snowy foothills in the northwest of the country. There are no industrial robots or assembly lines in sight. Instead just a dozen mechanics crafting each model by hand, right up to the finishing touch of adding a set of beady headlights to their "Milieu" range. The cars seem to owe much of their design to Japan's manga cartoon tradition -- their one-seater T-10 seems barely large enough for an adult driver, with just enough extra room left for a small pet, as requested by customers. The box-shaped two-door car -- which is dubbed the "Eco-beagle" and comes in green, whi...
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