Designers of Nissan's five-door electric hatchback, the Leaf, have added a high-tech look with blue-tinted light-emitting diode headlights and blue interior lighting and trim. Photo / Supplied

Designers of Nissan's five-door electric hatchback, the Leaf, have added a high-tech look with blue-tinted light-emitting diode headlights and blue interior lighting and trim. Photo / Supplied

Japanese arch-rivals Toyota and Honda clashed at this week's Tokyo motor show over the future of the car, while Nissan firmed up its commitment to plug-in power with the first public appearance of the Leaf, the five-door electric hatchback due in New Zealand in 2012.

Toyota unveiled its new two-seater Lexus LFA coupe, a V10-powered supercar described as "old-fashioned" by Honda president Takanobu Ito. The future, he said, is about clean, sustainable cars and sports cars are no exception.

But Toyota's new boss, Akio Toyoda, says the LFA is a crucial product in a world where motorisation is spreading.

"It's our mission as automakers to offer cars that possess the 'fun' spirit that should be at the base of any car," he said.

The world's biggest carmaker is planning to limit LFA production to 500 units, between December 2010 and December 2012. It was taking orders for the US$375,000 ($500,000) car at the show.

The LFA uses a 4.8-litre V10 engine that propels it from zero to 100km/h in 3.7 seconds and on to a top speed of 325km/h.

Honda had been preparing a V10 rival to the LFA in the form of the second-generation NSX, but it ditched the project, citing an urgent need to save money amid the economic downturn and the growing consumer shift toward greener cars.

"The era of V10 engines is gone," said Ito, who betrayed no sense of regret over the canned project despite having designed the ground-breaking all-aluminum body on the NSX back in 1990.

Ito has other ideas for what a sports car for the next generation could look like: a zero-emission fuel-cell car like Honda's FCX Clarity, which is currently on lease in limited numbers in the US and Japan. Actor Jamie-Lee Curtis drives an FCX.

Honda has never billed the sleek, hydrogen-powered sedan as a sports car, but Ito said it had all the characteristics to qualify.

"It's light because it's not weighed down by a tonne of batteries," he said in a jab at the battery-powered and Lotus-based electric sports cars built by US start-up Tesla Motors.

"When you weigh a car down like that, it undermines the characteristics of a sports car.

"But if you have a light car like the FCX Clarity that's powered by a motor, you get maximum torque from a zero start and acceleration is incredible. In a way, that's a sports car."

Honda showed off a near-production version of its sporty CR-Z hybrid, billed as the spiritual successor to the CR-X.