The eagerly awaited production version of the Toyota FT-86 is on schedule for launch in late 2011, rather than delayed until 2013 as had been previously feared.
The news comes out of Japanese performance car blog 7tune, which attended a recent Toyota press event in Tokyo.
Dr Shigeyuki Hori and Kazuo Okino, project manager and group manager for the Sports Vehicle Management division at Toyota, revealed that the FT-86 is not only on schedule, but that it is also on-target for price.
It seems that the mid-range model should hit the Japanese market at 2.5m yen. This translates to just £18,250 and, though UK market cars can be expected to cost a fair whack more, it does mean that an entry-level UK FT-86 could still nudge onto price lists at less than £20k - the car's original target price point.
Neither Hori-san nor Okino-san would reveal much specific detail about the car, other than the fact that it is nearly 50 per cent 'finished', and that the basic shape of the car will remain unchanged - only changes to cosmetic design details will differentiate it from the concept car.