Okuriguruma

In these troubled times for the automotive industry, what can car manufacturers do to increase market share and diversify in the world's most rapidly ageing society?

While Nissan's design team has been hard at work restyling its vehicles to suit the ergonomic needs of the elderly, Mitsuoka, that most idiosyncratic of manufacturers, has taken a rather more macabre approach to answering the question very few thought to ask. It has used its singular design language to create a hearse - the Mitsuoka Limousine type2-04, to give it its full grandiose title.

We shouldn't really be surprised by Mitsuoka's move into a new niche market; it is after all a prolific purveyor of the frivolous automotive niche. Take for example the recent Himiko, whose obtuse blend of old and new sees Panther Kallista mixed with Mazda MX5 to create every automotive purist's wet dream.

Rather than bore you with a list of Mitsuoka's past experiments in aesthetics, I am sure you are all eager to learn the specs of this new funereal wagon.

The type2-04 not only belongs to the dark side, but it's also a little bit sexist. Based as it is on a Toyota Corolla Axio, the 2-04 is smaller and more manoeuvrable than your average hearse, allegedly making it an easier more wieldy drive for the female employees of funeral parlours who are increasingly likely to be found behind the wheel of such vehicles. As such Mitsuoka are marketing this car as the first hearse designed to meet the needs of female undertakers - yet another new niche. The 2-04 is still a large car though at a fraction over 5 metres in length, and powered by a choice of 1.5 or 1.8 litre petrol engines its pace is likely to be suitably funereal. The price for all this morbid manoeuvrability - 5,229,000 Yen. But with nearly 20,000 Japanese citizens making it to the ripe old age of 100 in 2008 alone, it shouldn't be too long before it's paying for itself.

In carving out this new niche, Mitsuoka hopes to sell a hundred 2-04s every year, increasing its share of the Japanese hearse market from 10 to 20% in the process. As for the other vehicles which make up Mitsuoka's eclectic line-up of hearses, I shall save these for another rainy day.