The World's Tallest Cities

New York City remains No. 1, but China is catching up.

The soaring global economy of the last 20 years pushed the world's leading financial centers to enduring heights. Not their stock markets, which have collapsed, but their skylines.

All but two of the world's 20 tallest buildings (the 1,451 foot/442.264 meters Sears Tower and the 1,250 foot/381 meters Empire State Building) were built during this long bull market, according to Emporis, a global building-information company. Today the world's tallest cities reflect that growth.

New York City still stands tallest, with 35 towers over 700 feet/213.36 meters, more than any other city. But China is catching up. Hong Kong is No. 2 with 30 such towers, and Shanghai is No. 4 with 21 towers.

These cities have risen fast. In 1999, Shanghai completed the 1,380 foot/420.624 meters Jin Mao Tower. It was Shanghai's first building taller than 700 feet/213.36 meters ; since then the city has built 20 more.

No city in the world, however, has developed as explosively as Dubai. As oil wealth flooded the United Arab Emirates, the emirate of Dubai on the Persian Gulf poured money into construction, much as Houston had done decades earlier.

Today, Dubai is home to the world's tallest tower. The 2,684 foot/818.083 meters Burj Dubai was topped off in January of this year. The building is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009. It will be the world's tallest building by 1,000 feet/304.8 meters. The second-tallest building, Taipei 101 in Taiwan, is a comparatively modest 1,671 feet/509.320 meters.

With the rise of China and Dubai, Chicago is now No. 5. Shenzhen, the Chinese city just north of Hong Kong, is closing in.

A report, released this week from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, estimates that by 2020, the world's skylines will again be redrawn. By 2020, Taipei 101, currently the second-tallest building in the world, will be No. 20.

Dubai is determined to stay on top. After completing the Burj Dubai, it is planning the 3,280 foot/999.744 meters Nakheel Tower. Saudi Arabia hopes to build the 3,280 foot/999.744 meters Kingdom Tower. Both towers are very tentatively scheduled for completion in 2020--if the oil keeps flowing out and the dollars keep pouring in.

The foundations are already being laid for other super towers around the globe. In Shanghai, the 2,073 foot/631.850 meters Shanghai Tower will complete a trio of towers in the city's financial district, which currently includes the world's third-tallest building, the 1,614 foot/491.947 meters Shanghai World Financial Center.

In the U.S. both Chicago and New York are racing to build new super towers. New York's Freedom Tower, also known as World Trade Center One, will reach 1,776 feet/541.324 meters when completed. In Chicago, foundations are in place for the Chicago Spire, a planned 2,000 footer/609.6 meters that would allow the Windy City to remain the home of America's tallest tower.

But whether these skyscrapers will ever touch the clouds depends how quickly the economy turns around. Across the world, projects are grinding to a stop, as financing collapses or demand for hundreds of floors of office space in financial districts disappears. The Chicago Spire, the Nakheel Tower and Moscow's planned 2,008 foot/612.038 meters Moscow Tower have all been placed on hold in recent months.


No. 1: New York, N.Y.



Towers 1,000 feet (304.8m) and taller: 4
Towers 700 feet (213.36m) to 999 feet (304.495m): 31
Tallest: Empire State Building, 1,250 feet (381 m)

Despite the rise of China and the flood of oil wealth, no skyline matches New York's--with 35 towers over 700 feet (213.36m). That skyline will only grow more impressive as the new World Trade Center complex is completed in coming years. The Freedom Tower, at the heart of the complex, will be the city's tallest building, at 1,776 feet (541.324 m) when completed.


No. 2: Hong Kong



Towers 1,000 feet (304.8m) and taller: 5
Towers 700 feet (213.36m) to 999 feet (304.495m): 25
Tallest: Two International Finance Centre, 1,362 feet
(415.137 m)

Hong Kong's skyline was built from the wealth generated by China's incredible size combined with Hong Kong's economic freedom. The Heritage Foundation's 2009 Index of Economic Freedom ranks Hong Kong the freest in the world. Finance towers include the city's tallest building, Two International Finance Centre, and I.M. Pei's famous Bank of China building


No. 3: Dubai, United Arab Emirates



Towers 1,000 feet (304.8m) and taller: 8
Towers 700 feet (213.36m) to 999 feet (304.495m): 17
Tallest: Burj Dubai, 2,684 feet (818.083 m)

The most visible consequence of the American thirst for foreign oil is the skyline of Dubai. Oil wealth fueled the construction of the city's enormous skyscrapers. Dubai is now home to the world's tallest building, the topped-out but not-yet-completed Burj Dubai, which is 1,000 feet (304.8 m) taller than any other building in the world.


No. 4: Shanghai, China



Towers 1,000 feet (304.8m) and taller: 3
Towers 700 feet (213.36m) to 999 feet (304.495m): 18
Tallest: Shanghai World Financial Center, 1,614 feet (491.947 m)

The rise of China can is apparent in Shanghai's skyline. A decade ago, the city's Jin Mao Tower was the only building over 700 feet (304.8m); today, 21 buildings taller than 700 feet (304.8m) dot the skyline. And the current crop of buildings are tiny compared with the planned Shanghai Tower. Expected to be completed in 2014, the tower will climb over 2,000 feet (609.6 m).


No. 5: Chicago, Ill.



Towers 1,000 feet (304.8m) and taller: 5
Towers 700 feet (213.36m) to 999 feet (304.495m): 12
Tallest: Sears Tower, 1,451 feet (442.264 m)

New York and Chicago have always battled for skyline supremacy. Currently, Chicago's Sears Tower is the country's tallest building, a title it will lose upon completion of New York's planned Freedom Tower. Not to be outdone, Chicago hopes to construct the Chicago Spire first; it's planned to be 224 feet (68.27 m) taller than Freedom Tower.


No. 6: Shenzhen, China



Towers 1,000 feet (304.8m) and taller: 1
Towers 700 feet (213.36m) to 999 feet (304.495m): 12
Tallest: Shun Hing Square, 1,260 feet (384.048 m)

The city of Shenzhen, immediately north of Hong Kong, was the primary hub for economic activity between Hong Kong and mainland China when Hong Kong was a British colony. The city's economic success is due in part to its status as a Special Economic Zone--it benefits from a more relaxed economic framework than most of the country.


No. 7: Tokyo, Japan



Towers 1,000 feet (304.8m) and taller: 0
Towers 700 feet (213.36m) to 999 feet (304.495m): 11
Tallest: Mid Town Tower, 813 feet (247.802m)

Are there still skyscrapers after property bubbles? In Tokyo, the answer is yes. Although its stock market never returned to its 1989 level, following the collapse of the Japanese asset bubble, the city's skyscrapers have continued to rise. The tallest, the Mid Town Tower, was completed in 2007.


No. 8: Houston, Texas



Towers 1,000 feet (304.8m) and taller: 1
Towers 700 feet (213.36m) to 999 feet (304.495m): 9
Tallest: JPMorgan Chase Tower, 1,002 feet (305.409m)

Houston's skyline is from a different time--its tallest buildings went up in the 1970s and 1980s, the end of an era when Texas oil production was booming. It's been more than 20 years since Houston has built a tower over 700 feet (213.36m).


No. 9: Singapore



Towers 1,000 feet (304.8m) and taller: 0
Towers 700 feet (213.36m) to 999 feet (304.495m): 10
Tallest: Republic Plaza; UOB Plaza One; and OUB Centre, each 919 feet (280.1m)

The island city-state of Singapore squeezes a world-class skyline onto a mere 263 square miles. Two of its tallest buildings, the Overseas Union Bank Centre and United Overseas Bank Plaza One--hint at Singapore's source of wealth as a trade and financial hub.


No. 10: Los Angeles, California.



Towers 1,000 feet (304.8m) and taller: 1
Towers 700 feet (213.36m) to 999 feet (304.495m): 7
Tallest: US Bank Tower, 1,018 ft (310.286m).

America's second-largest city will not be challenging the skylines of Chicago or New York any time soon. It's been nearly two decades since Los Angeles built a tower over 500 feet (152.4m). The city's tallest building, the US Bank Tower, turns 20 this year.

The World's Cheapest Laptop

The XO was developed for the One Laptop Per Child project

The 'world's cheapest laptop', developed in India, was unveiled by Union Minister for Human Resources Development Arjun Singh at the Tirupati temple on Tuesday evening. The laptop, jointly developed by several organisations, such as the University Grants Commission, the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, will be priced at around $10 to $20 (about Rs 500 to Rs 1,000), officials said.

S K Sinha, joint secretary in the ministry for education, giving a demonstration of the device which is smaller than the normal laptop, said that it will need some more fine-tuning. He said the laptop is expected to reach the market in about six months. Arjun Singh had an interaction with the vice chancellors of the remote states like Jammu and Kashmir and Manipur to prove the point that the device will be able to bring about high quality networking among the various institutions of higher education and also increase the skills of e learning of the students in rural areas.

The project has already created a buzz in the laptop industry across the world. The laptop has 2 GB onboard memory with wireless Internet connectivity. To make it useful for the students, especially in the rural areas, the scientists have made it low power consuming gadget.

The mission was launched at a huge gathering of academicians and the officials from across the country including thirty vice chancellors of central and state universities at the campus of Sri Venkateshwara University Tirupati. Like the National Mission on Education through ICT, the laptop is also aimed at improving the skills of students, both at the school and higher levels. Under the mission the government also intends to provide high-speed Internet access to the schools to download e-books and e-journals and other material. Students will be able to download the material through the 'Sakshat' portal.

The goal of the national mission is to increase the enrollment in higher education in the country by 5 per cent over the next five years. The government will subsidise 25 per cent of broadband connectivity costs for private and public colleges. The $10 laptop is being seen as India's reply to One Laptop per Child's XO and Classmate of Intel. The XO, created by scientist Nicholas Negroponte and MIT Media Lab was originally targeted to cost only $100 but by the time it was ready to enter the market its cost went up to $188. The Classmate notebook PC from Intel was priced at $ 300 a piece.

In contrast, the Indian government's effort to market lap top at only $10 has caused a flutter in the international laptop market and many players are curious to know the details of the costing and how Indians managed to keep the cost so low. Nicholas Negroponte is not fully satisfied with the cost projection. "I fear it is not serious. We'd love a $20 laptop but the display costs more," he was quoted as saying by Boston Globe.


[Video]

East Asia Builds World's Largest Radio Telescope Network

SHANGHAI, Feb.1 (Xinhua) -- East Asian astronomers are building the world's largest radio telescope array to see the deep into the galaxy and black holes and more accurately determine the orbits of lunar probes such as China's Chang'e-1.

The array, called the East Asia Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) consortium, consists of 19 radio telescopes from China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) that cover an area with a diameter of 6,000 kilometers from northern Japan's Hokkaido to western China's Kunming and Urumqi.

The VLBI technology is widely used in radio astronomy. It combines the observations simultaneously made by several telescopes to expand the diameter and increase magnification.

Shen Zhiqiang, secretary general of the East Asia VLBI consortium committee, told Xinhua Sunday, the consortium has carried out experimental observations and frequent academic exchanges since the idea came into being in 2003.

One main task of the consortium is to improve the three-dimensional map of the Milky Way galaxy obtained by Japan's VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry), according to the project's development plan.

Hideyuki Kobayashi, director of Japan's Mizusawa VERA Observatory, told the Science Magazine in the U.S. earlier that the consortium would help astronomers obtain high quality data on galactic structures.

Full-scale observations of the consortium are scheduled to start in 2010 which will connect at least 12 Japanese and four Chinese stations, in addition to three Korean ones that are under construction.

Shen said, "The actual number of telescopes included could change as the countries involved are building new ones -- like the 65-meter-diameter radio telescope being built in Shanghai."

"In addition," Shen said, also a researcher at the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, "Chinese astronomers have made huge success in applying VLBI technology to determine the orbit of Chang'e-1, China's first lunar probe."

Shen's research team also used VLBI to find the most convincing proof so far that there is a super-massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy.

Currently, China's four telescopes participating in the consortium are still focusing on tracking the Chang'e-1 satellite, Shen said.

"But we are carrying out experimental observation tests as much as possible to prepare for the cooperation with Japan and ROK," he said.

The China VLBI Network announced on Jan. 20 that it successfully used the Internet to achieve high-speed data transmission called e-VLBI, an important direction for future VLBI technology development.

"The e-VLBI technology will play a vital role in China's lunar and Mars explorations which have already been launched," Shen said.

Meanwhile, Korean and Japanese astronomers are cooperating to build in Seoul a correlator to integrate large amounts of data into high-resolution images, a fundamental preparation for the consortium.

Radio telescopes differ from optical ones in that they use radio antennae to track and collect data from satellites and space probes. The first radio antenna used to identify astronomical radio sources was built by Karl Guthe Jansky, an engineer with Bell Telephone Laboratories, in the early 1930s.

World's Top International Patent

Huawei patent filings rank first in the world

Huawei, a major Chinese telecommunications company, for the first time ranks No. 1 in the world among all the company and individual applicants for the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), according to the latest statistics released from the World Intellectual Property Organization. Huawei had the highest number of patent filings, with a total of 1737 applications in 2008.

Ranking second through fifth were Panasonic (Japan), Philips Electronics NV (Netherlands), Toyota (Japan) and Robert Bosch GMBH (Germany).

Statistics show in 2008 international PCT filings totaled 164,000, an increase of 2.4 percent year-on-year. The U.S. ranked first in the world with over 53,000 fillings and Japan and Germany came in second and third with over 28,000 and over 18,000 filings respectively. The other countries in the top 10 were South Korea, France, China, the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland in sequence.

The number of filings from South Korea, China and Sweden recorded the largest increases. Last year, South Korea filed 7,908 patents, China 6,089 patents and Sweden 4,114 patents, representing growth rates as high as 12 percent, 11.9 percent and 12.5 percent respectively.

World's Smallest Cars

The plunge in oil prices since their highs last July may have relieved some of the anxiety drivers feel when pulling up to the gas pump, but auto makers are still betting on consumers favoring more fuel efficient cars. After all, it wasn't just high oil prices that were sending car buyers to small cars. Several progressive governments, including Australia, Canada and China, have come out with policies to encourage their citizens to buy gas sippers.

Auto makers have responded by coming out with mini cars that can squeeze in the tightest parking spots. Some have brought back classics such as the BMW Isetta, Fiat 500, and Mini Cooper, albeit more fuel efficient versions. Others are planning to come out hybrids or electric vehicles this year or next year. Many multinational car manufacturers are selling these small, fuel efficient cars abroad, particularly emerging markets where locals earn less money yet want cleaner cars. At the same time, auto companies from China and India are also entering the game and coming out with their small cars with hopes of eventually exporting their cars overseas. Heres a look at some of the worlds smallest autos.


Tata Motors' Reversal of Fortune

Just a year ago, Indian carmaker Tata Motors was riding high. Now it's suffering major losses and there's still no launch date for the Nano

Chairman of the Tata group, Ratan Tata, poses with the Indica Vista. SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP/Getty Images

What a difference a year makes. Just last January, Tata Motors (TTM) was on top of the world. It had sewn up a $2.3 billion purchase of the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, had just unveiled the intensely popular Nano—the world's cheapest car—and its shares, along with India's stock market, were soaring.

But on Friday evening, Jan. 30, at the stately Mumbai headquarters of India's sprawling Tata Group, the bad news just kept coming: quarterly losses of $54 million, the first in more than seven years; a nearly one-third drop in revenues on a quarter-over-quarter basis; no solid date for the mass launch of the Nano, which has been delayed by several months after the company was forced to change production sites; and no clarity on how the company intends to pay back the billions of dollars in bridge loans it took out to pay for Jaguar/Land Rover. In spite of the gloomy results, the company struck a hopeful note. "We are seeing an upturn in consumer demand," says Ravi Kant, the CEO of Tata Motors. "[We are] more hopeful this quarter."

The rapid reversals at Tata, which is probably the most internationally visible of Indian automakers, mirror the suddenness with which many Indian companies have seen their fortunes change as global lines of credit have frozen and the local economy has slowed down. Exports are dropping for the first time in nearly a decade. Interest rates have remained high to help control runaway inflation, which for a while last year crossed 12% before stabilizing to just under half that figure. "It's not just Tata; it's the entire sector, even though this is particularly bad timing for them, since they have so much looming debt," says one auto analyst, who asked not to be named because of company policy. "Unless interest rates come down, and salaried professionals feel more secure about their jobs, it's really not likely that car sales are going to go up."
Bad Timing for Tata

In effect, the rules of the game changed just while Tata Motors was set to hit a home run. The No. 3 carmaker in the world's second-fastest-growing car market saw its revenues sag, then go into free fall, as Indians delayed car purchases in a bad economy. Tata Motors had expected blockbuster sales for the Nano, which was to have launched around October 2008. But protests over the way a local government acquired land from farmers before leasing it to Tata forced the company to shut down and move a nearly completed $350 million factory across the country. "Dismantling is a complex problem with moving suppliers, etc.," says Kant. "But there are some interim arrangements to produce the Nano in small numbers to whet the appetite but not satisfy the hunger."

At the same time, India's manufacturing sector has slowed down because of tight credit, and Tata's commercial vehicle sales (where the company owns nearly 60% of the world's fifth-largest commercial vehicle market) have dropped precipitously. And the bills for the purchase of Jaguar/Land Rover, completed when the global economy was gorging on easy credit, came due just as that credit vanished, leaving the company struggling to convert expensive bridge loans into cheaper long-term commitments.

For those looking for a silver lining, though, there's been some good news this week. On Wednesday, the company bagged a $450 million, 12-year contract to build and maintain buses for the city of New Delhi, which is in the midst of upgrading its infrastructure. That should come as a shot in the arm for Tata Motors, which sold nearly 40% fewer commercial vehicles this quarter than the comparable quarter a year ago.

Loan Troubles

And for its Jaguar/Land Rover subsidiary, which declares results separately and is believed to have been profitable last year, there was hope in Tuesday's announcement by the British government that it would guarantee $1.9 billion in loans from the European Investment Bank for car manufacturers and another $1.4 billion in other lending. Tata Motors, which took out expensive bridge loans to pay for the Jaguar/Land Rover purchase, has had trouble raising money to pay those loans back, but it is still unclear if it can use those EIB credit facilities to pay back the bridge loan. "Of course, we plan to apply for as much help as we can get under that program, but the indication we've gotten from the [government officials] there is that the loans are intended to help keep production lines running, not directly pay off accumulated debt," says an official at the company's finance department, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

After an undersubscribed rights issue, Tata has sold millions of dollars of commercial paper at interest rates as high as 11%, according to data collected by Thomson Reuters (TRI), making it the second-largest seller of commercial paper in India. In December, to raise cash to pay back loans that were coming due in the first half of 2009, the company even took cash deposits from investors and others, offering an 11% return on the investment, raising a little over $60 million. With the money from the rights issues, the company has paid down about $1 billion in debt, says Kant. "We are still in talks with the banks," he says. "We are in an upturn, and the cycle will begin to correct itself."

Of all of India's companies, Tata Motors is perhaps the least likely to be swamped by these problems. Part of a well-capitalized group, the company has options others don't, including assistance from its parent company, the Tata Group. As India's economy recovers, car sales will revive and so will commercial vehicle sales, which already saw an uptick in the last month, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Tata Motors' stock, down 52% this past quarter and now trading well below book value, is seen as a good long-term bet. It is already inching up this week, up as much as 5% when the British loan guarantees were announced.


World's Smallest Cars List

1. Audi Metroproject Quattro



Audi first unveiled this super mini luxury car at the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show as the Audi metroproject Quattro concept car. The hybrid car combines a 1.4 TFSI gas engine with a 27 horsepower electric motor that can go from 0 to 62 miles per hour in 7.9 seconds. Production and sales of the A1 is expected to begin this year.


2. BMW New Isetta



BMW came out with the original Isetta 1953, after World War II, to meet the need for cheap, short-distance transportation in Europe. The bubble car was sold in Spain, Belgium, France, Germany, Britain, and Brazil. BMW is now bringing back the new Isetta in the form of an electric car, which should arrive in American showrooms in 2012, to help meet California's zero emissions vehicle legislation.


3. BYD FO Mini




Battery manufacturer-turned electric car maker BYD spent five years developing the F0 mini compact car. In September 2008, BYD started selling the 1.0 liter gasoline engine F0 starting at $5398. The car was originally called the F1 but changed to F0 to avoid copyright violations with the Formula 1 racing league.


4. Copen Daihatsu



The Copen is Daihatsu's sportiest model and probably the only convertible/ open car among 660 cc class kei cars in the world. (Kei car is a micro car with engine no bigger than 660 cc) The two-seater roadster goes from zero to 60mph in a respectable 11.7 seconds, while averaging 44.1 mpg of gasoline. Its electric retractable hardtop goes up or down in 20 seconds. In some overseas markets, mainly in Europe, a larger 87-horsepower, 1.3-liter engine version is also available. Since its launch in 2002, Daihatsu Copen has sold constantly more than 500 units a month, 1,000 units a month maximum. Each car is built carefully by skilled technicians selected specially for the Copen. In Japan, price ranges from $17,340 to $21,450.


5. Fiat 500



Italian auto maker Fiat sold the original Fiat 500 from 1957 to 1975 as a cheap, practical city car. Fiat brought back the Italian automotive icon in 2007 and updated the body shape and made it bigger as well as souped up the interiors with four seats, seven airbags, and an iPod connector. At the 2008 British Internatoinal Motor Show, NICE Car Company and Micro-Vett unveiled an electric powered Fiat 500 that can go up to 65 miles per hour.


6. Ford KA



Ford (ticker: F) has been selling the smallest car in its portfolio, the Ka, in Europe and Latin America since 1996. On Jan. 1, Ford launched the second generation Ka, based on the Fiat 500, in Britain. The Ka had a cameo in the James Bond film Quantum of Solace. Ford CEO Alan Mulally says that hed like to bring the Ka to the U.S. to meet rising demand for small cars. However, the Ka, which comes with a 1.2 liter gas or 1.3 liter diesel engine, wouldn't arrive in American showrooms until next year or 2011 at the earliest.


7. Geely Panda



Hangzhou, Zhejiang province-based Geely unveiled its mini car, the Panda (not to be confused with the Fiat Panda) at the Beijing Auto Show in April 2008, becoming the latest Chinese auto maker hoping to profit from the Chinese government's policy to encourage Chinese consumers to buy smaller, more fuel efficient car. The 1.3 liter engine Geely Panda gets 48 miles per gallon. Geely is also coming out with an electric version of the Panda powered by a lithium-ion battery pack that travels up to 40 miles per hour.


8. Chevrolet Spark



General Motors took the Daewoo Matiz three-door hatchback and re-branded it the Spark. GM already sells 0.8 liter and 1.0 liter engine models of the Spark in South Africa, the Middle East, India, Latin America, and China (under the Wuling brand). GM will start selling the Spark in Europe in the first quarter of 2010 and in the U.S. in 2011.


9. Honda Life



Unlike bigger rivals Toyota and Nissan, Honda (ticker: HMC) makes its own kei cars including the strong selling Life. Since its launch in 1971, Life has been the most popular Honda car in domestic market with more than 1.5 million sold. In November 2008, the company brought out a new version---the first full-model change in five years. A new Life costs between $10,270 (945,000 yen) and $18,260 (1,680,000 yen).


10. Mercedes Smart For Two



The Smart car was originally started by Swiss watch maker Swatch, which teamed up with Daimler-Benz, to make a two-seat, 8.8-feet long subcompact car that can be parked in the narrowest parking spaces. The Smart ForTwo uses both a 1.0 liter gasoline engine and a 20 kilowatt electric motor that makes it the most fuel-efficient gasoline-powered vehicle that is not a hybrid in the U.S., according to fueleconomy.gov. Mercedes-Benz has sold more than a million Smart cars in 37 countries. The Smart car went on sale in the U.S. in January 2008. Daimler plans to come out with an electric version of the Smart car in 2010.


11. Mitsubishi I



By most accounts, DaimlerChryslers alliance with Mitsubishi Motors was a flop --- except for the birth of the Mitsubishi i. Designed by Frenchman Olivier Boulay --- now back at DaimlerChrysler in Tokyo, the i is arguably the most stylish kei car on the road. It received the Good Design Grand Prix 2006 award from Japans Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and won a best car gong from the Automotive Researchers & Journalists Conference of Japan (RJC). Prices range from $11,530 (1,060,500 yen) to $17,230 (1,585,500 yen).


12. Mitsubishi Toppo



The name Toppo comes from the English top (roof) and the Japanese noppo (thin and tall). Mitsubishi launched the original Toppo in 1990 but it was discontinued in 2003. Last year, it made a comeback. One characteristic of the latest model is its high roof. It is 1.43 meters (56 inches), from the floor to the ceiling, which is tall enough to enable an 11-year-old child of average height to change clothes while standing inside the car. Price ranges from $10,160 (934,500 yen) to $17,060 (1,569,750 yen).


13. BMW Minicooper Convertible



British Motor Corporation chief designer Sir Alec Issigonis originally designed the Mini Cooper in the late-1950s, after the British government started rationing gasoline when Britain fought in the Gulf of Suez crisis. The Mini Cooper was the most popular British car ever, selling over 5.4 million units between 1959 and 2000. BMW, which took over the Mini brand when it acquired the Rover Group, resurrected the Mini in 2002. At the North American International Auto Show, BMW unveiled the 1.6 liter engine 2009 Mini Cooper convertible, which goes on sale for starting at $24,550 in March.


14. Volkswagen Skoda Fabia



In 1999, the same year that that Volkswagen acquired Czech auto manufacturer Skoda Auto, they came out with the Skoda Fabia supermini. The car got a revamp in 2007. Already one of the more popular subcompact cars in central Europe, Skoda also makes the the Fabia in the Ukraine, Bosnia, India, China, Russia, and Kazakhstan. The push into key emerging markets has helped Skoda Fabia sales grow 5.9% to 246,561 units last year.


15. Subaru R1E



The Subaru R1e is an electric vehicle concept based on the R1, a 660cc kei car. In partnership with Tokyo Electric Power, Subaru owner Fuji Heavy has been testing the car since June 2006 and will tap that know-how in the Stella, an electric vehicle which is scheduled to be released in Japan this summer. The Stella, which can be charged using a home electricity supply, will reach a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour (62mph) and have a range of about 80 kilometers (50 miles). Just as important, Fuji Heavy says its batteries can be 80% recharged in 15 minutes.


16. Suzuki Wagonr



Today, the best-selling kei cars in Japan are tiny minivans. Suzuki started the trend in 1993 when it launched the Suzuki WagonR. The original model was the first kei car to win the Car of the Year award from the Automotive Researchers & Journalists Conference of Japan Last year, its fourth-generation model received the same honor. The top selling car in Japan in any class, the WagonR, achieves fuel economy of 23 kilometers per liter (55mpg) under Japanese test conditions. Price ranges from $9,870 to $18,170.


17. Tata Nano



In January 2008, Indias largest auto manufacturer Tata Motor announced with much fanfare plans to make the Tata Nano or People's Car that would retail for 100,000 rupees or roughly $2,500. However, production of the Tata Nano has not been smooth. Tata has had to relocate the Nano factory to Gujarat after protests erupt from the West Bengal government seizing farmland and turning it over to Tata. Prices of raw materials, including steel and rubber, have soared. The Tata Nano was scheduled to roll off production lines at the end of last year, but now Tata hopes the car will be ready early this year.


18. Toyota IQ



Toyota's (ticker: TM) iQ, which measures just 2.985 meters (117 inches) long by 1.68 meters (65 inches) wide, seats three adults and one small child by taking advantage of some pretty nifty design innovations, such as a flat fuel tank under the floor and a new smaller, but not less effective, air conditioning unit from Denso. It's economical, too. Under the Japanese 10-15 test cycle, the iQ gets 54 mpg, while CO2 emissions from its one liter gasoline engine are among the lowest in the Toyota stable, including hybrids. Prices range from $15,220 (1.4 million yen) to $17,390 (1.6 million yen).


19. Volkswagen Beetle



Volkswagen brought back an updated version of the original Beetle in 1998. After a decade of fairly strong sales, the new Beetle is due for a redesign. Last year, VW head Martin Winterkorn said that a Beetle successor was being developed and would likely be manufactured in Mexico again. The next generation Beetle is scheduled to be ready in 2010.