Toyota i-ROAD concept revives the three-wheel microcar

In Terry Gilliam's classic movie "Brazil," Sam Lowry drives around a dystopian future cityscape in a three-wheel Messerschmitt KR200, a 1950s-era European microcar that looks equal parts cool and ridiculous. For this year's Geneva Motor Show, Toyota has taken the idea of a three-wheel, tandem-seat microcar to a modern extreme in a concept it calls i-ROAD, and because the future has more in common with "Brazil" than we might prefer.

Most major automakers are working on ideas of vehicles that fill the space between a small car and a motorcycle — something small enough to fit in tight urban environments, but sizable enough to provide weather and crash protection so that passengers wouldn't have to wear helmets. None has advanced to the point of production, and the slow progress of a few start-ups has made such vehicles seem an answer to a question not many people have thought to ask yet.