Hello Motors

hello Motor Company, Ltd. (stylized all lowercase) is an Automotive engineering company founded in Sapporo Japan in 1994. The companies founder Izumi Inoue had a vision for a new car company and new type of car buying experience. hello is currently one of the fastest growing domestic brands in Japan and they have begun the expand their availability out to Europe as of February 2020.

History
In June of 1992 Sojiro Sakurai and Futaba Inaba the founders of Inuari Automotive were tragically killed in an airplane accident. The sudden and unavoidable death of the companies founders meant Inurai needed to scramble to keep the company afloat at any cost. The lay offs and restructuring worked its way all the way to the higher ups and eventually acting CFO Izumi Inoue. After being removed from his position Izumi moved to the north of Japan in Sapporo and began working to launch his own car company, which would come to be known as hello

hello was supposed to be a different kind of car company. Izumi had it in mind that car buying should be as simple as shopping for clothing or food. He developed a new kind of dealership network, known as Excel and beginning in 1993 Excel would carry Mazda and Suzuki cars until Izumi could get his brand off the ground. Finally in April of 1996 Izumi would see his dream realized with the release of his very first car the Clario µ (mu). This was the first the country would see Izumi's business model layed out in front of them

Buying a hello car was made to be a quick and streamlined process that would get people in an out as quickly as possible. The average customer experience would begin in the show room where they are shown the current range of hello cars. Once picking a model the customer would be taken to a computer terminal by a sales associate where the trim levels would be shown off. At this point its not too different, however there were no options, each trim levels gave you exact everything you would need, each trim is the entire package including everything down to transmission and engine. Once a trim & color have been chosen the customer would agree to pay a single flat price (again set by the trim level) and expect to drive their new car off the lot that day.

Consumers liked the model and the Clario would become the best selling car in Japan from 1996 to 1998.

In 1997 hello would reveal its second model, known as the Activio. This small sports car was meant to compete with the Mazda MX-5 but it was often grouped with the smaller kei sports cars. The Activio was available with 2 engine options as a µ (mu) with a 660cc 64hp Turbo I3 or as an α (alpha) model with an 1000cc Turbo I4 making 116hp. The Activio would go on to become very popular throughout Japan however after 2002 it was discontinued. In 2019 it was announced they would be bringing the Activio back for its second generation and in 2020 it premiered to much acclaim. The car now featured a 209hp Turbo Inline 3 engine making it much bigger and faster than the original.

The 2020 Activio would also be rebadged and sold in Europe as the Axcel Pulsar X4T

Production Models
Clario (1996- Present) - Kei wagon

Activio (1997-2001, 2020-Present) - Sports car Familia (1998-Present) - Mid-sized Family car

Excel (2002-Present) - Excutive Sedan

Kanga (2000-Present) - Family Van/Shuttle

Kanga Pro (2000-Present) - Utility Van

Canyon (1999-Present) - SUV/Pick-Up

hello Motorsport
hello has been a prominent figure in Motorsports since its conception, mostly in WRC.

The first real hello racecar came in 1997 with the Clario F2. This factory run Clario would compete in the F2 kit car class of rally from 1997 to 2000. It used a specially made race modified 3cyl engine making just under 300hp with the class required fwd. It would see moderate success by winning events here and there but ultimately was left behind by more powerful competitors.

Ten years later the 2007 Clario would see some massive overhauls to the companies strategy. No longer aiming for the F2 Kit class, hello built a world class Super 2000 monster. The 2007 Clario would go on to see success in rally and rallycross from 2007 to 2009 before being retired in anticipation of the 3rd generation car. The third gen Clario was a massive mis-step for the company, it was heavier, slower, and uglier than any of its predecessors and hello knew something needed to be done to help its image. In 2012 they officially released the Clario WRC, this heavily modified Clario would see almost 400hp and 4wd. However due to transmission failures the car was entered but forced retirement after only 2 events.

As of 2020 they haven't made any announcement regarding their return to WRC but have been seen testing a new entry for GT300 events

Purchase of Axcel
In March of 2020 hello closed on a deal to purchase the remains of defunct French manufacturer Axcel. The company had been dead for a long time and the purchase seemed to come out of nowhere. The plan was to bring the brand back from the dead as a new international luxury marquis. Axcel is set to begin selling rebadged hello products later in 2020 and in 2021 will begin producing its own line of electric vehicles.

There are no plans to bring the Axcel brand to the North American markets as of April 2020

VISIN Project
The VISIN project has been a collection of super limited production and concept models that have come out over the years. As of now there are only 2 official VISIN cars but more have been promised for the future.

EXA
The 2009 hello Exa was supposed to be a new start for the company as a sports car. It was a mid-engined, lightweight, and powerful beast. With the most powerful 3cyl engine every fitted to a car at 509hp it was going to leave a huge mark on the industry. However the cars final cost was around $200,000 and not many people were willing to pay that. Despite a few orders placed the car was cancelled indefinitely. Only one was ever made a remains at the hello collection.

Activio "66"
The Activio "66" was a design study meant to explore "what if hello was founded much earlier." The vision for this car is clear, what would the Activio had been if it was from 1966. The cars engine is actually 2 hello KG2 3cyl engines combined into one 1.3L Inline 6 making 201hp. The car was never planned for production but after heavy interest from the public hello produced just 250 of them at $100,000 each.

Plans to mass produce an electric variant have been floating around but nothing has ever been confirmed.