Thursday 23rd June 2011

Toyota To Show Mid-Engined Hybrid At Nurburgring

Behold the TMC GRMN Sports Hybrid concept II. Bad name, interesting idea...

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This is the acronym-tastic TMC GRMN Sports Hybrid Concept II, a mid-engined petrol-electric hybrid concept sports car that's set to be shown before the public at this weekend's Nurburgring 24 hour race.

To untangle that confusing name, TMC stands for Toyota Motor Corporation, while the GR bit of GRMN stands for Gazoo Racing (the folks who campaign the Lexus LF-A in endurance events such as the Nurburgring 24hrs). The MN, meanwhile stands for 'Meister of Nurburgring', in honour of Gazoo chief and TMC test driver Hiromu Naruse, who was tragically killed last year while testing on roads near the Nurburgring.

As for the car itself, it is (says Toyota) an evolution of a concept first shown at the Tokyo Auto Salon (Japan's main 'tuner' show) in 2010. What makes it interesting is that its 295bhp power output comes via a 245bhp mid-mounted V6 driving the rear wheels, in combination a front-mounted electric motor that drives the front wheels. This way, Toyota feels it can maximise manouevrabilty and agility while providing enhanced stability.

So is it heading for production? Er, we very much doubt it, but it does show further proof (beyond the FT-86) that Toyota, with motorsport nut Akio Toyoda at the helm, is keen on returning to making 'proper' sports cars (cue debate about whether Toyota ever made 'proper' sports cars in the first place...)

GRMN SPORTS HYBRID Concept II

Engine	Type	Petrol V6
	Displacement (cc)	3,456
	Maximum output (bhp)	245
System	Maximum output (bhp)	295
Body	Length (mm)	4,350
	Width (mm)	1,890
	Height (mm)	1,200
	Wheelbase (mm)	2,575
	Weight (kg)	1,500 or less
Vehicle layout		Mid-engined with front electric motor
Tyres	Front	225/40R19
	Rear	255/35R19

[bobbylondonuk]

Toyoda San you Rock! This is the kind of stuff we petrolheads want from toyota....make your money selling microwave equivalents of cars...but give us a couple of real jap cars that mean business!

Or as we brits say...that is the Canine's testicles indeed!!!

[PhilJames]

Looks like Lego to me.

[fatboy b]

The sooner the motor manufacturers get through this hybrid phase the better IMO.

[orbitall]

I love lego... and the car looks quite good as well

[kambites]

fatboy b said:

The sooner the motor manufacturers get through this hybrid phase the better IMO.

Given that the next step is quite probably onto fully electric cars (or at least range extender ones), I'm not so sure about that.

[MoBeanz]

fatboy b said:

The sooner the motor manufacturers get through this hybrid phase the better IMO.

... into full electric?

[orbitall]

I love lego... and the car looks quite good as well

[300bhp/ton]

That looks great!!! I'd give it a 10. But if its only a concept car with no chance of production I'd give a 0.

Hope they make it as Toyota are probably the most boring, biggest yawn inducing car maker at present. And by some margin too.

[JumpinJack]

I thought it was a Spyker when I looked at the the thumbnail pic.

Looks interesting though. Glad to see they are still running some more adventurous projects.

[300bhp/ton]

kambites said:

Given that the next step is quite probably onto fully electric cars (or at least range extender ones), I'm not so sure about that.

I don't think fully electric cars will be the way. Not for 50-100 years at least unless something radically changes in producing electricity.

I can see some cities adopting electric cars, but as soon people release there are roads beyond London (or NYC/LA, etc) then it'll be a shorted lived phase in motoring history.

[kambites]

300bhp/ton said:

I can see some cities adopting electric cars, but as soon people release there are roads beyond London (or NYC/LA, etc) then it'll be a shorted lived phase in motoring history.

Which is why I mentioned range extenders.

Lets be honest, using an internal combustion engine to directly drive the wheels of a vehicle which has to be efficient running and multiple different speeds and under multiple different loads is stupid.

[Galliano]

At last. The return of the word SPORTS that doesn't just give T-Sport to hatchbacks.

Roll on the return of the Supra, Celica, Levin, Trueno, Paseo, MR2 etc..

[thinfourth2]

fatboy b said:

The sooner the motor manufacturers get through this hybrid phase the better IMO.

Only if you tell me the downside of a plug-in serial hybrid.

[soad]

Does look interesting, I'll agree

[nbirch]

Looks like a kit 80's Marcos to me.... I apologise to Marcos owners

[bakerjuk]

I think it looks like they used an old MR2 Rev4 as a donor car. And thats no bad thing, the old MR2 was a great little sports car.

I question the logic in using the electric to power the front wheels. So is this a FWD car when in Eco mode and a RWD car when the batteries are dead and a 4WD car when you first take it out for a spin? I think the handling will take some getting used too.

I would have thought it far more prudent to integrate the electric motor into the cars standard drive train. Probably a cost thing.

[Goodfella 555]

(cue debate about whether Toyota ever made 'proper' sports cars in the first place...)

Apologies for being over sensitive however my Mk3 MR2 is a fantastic little motor it is like a softened Elise you can use as you would a normal car. 60 takes 7.5 yet it is good for 40mpg. Maybe you're right maybe its not 'proper' but in the real world it is one of the most financially practical sports cars you can get your hands on. Which is a good thing. The Celicas esp the GT4 were great cars too. Rant over!

[emicen]

Styling taken straight from the K-1 Attack. Not necessarily a bad thing.

However, they made my ST185 GT-Four in 1992, in the following 19 years have they honestly STILL not figured out that rear arches shouldnt have the wheels hidden 6 feet inboard?

[SteveS Cup]

Goodfella 555 said:

(cue debate about whether Toyota ever made 'proper' sports cars in the first place...)

Apologies for being over sensitive however my Mk3 MR2 is a fantastic little motor it is like a softened Elise you can use as you would a normal car. 60 takes 7.5 yet it is good for 40mpg. Maybe you're right maybe its not 'proper' but in the real world it is one of the most financially practical sports cars you can get your hands on. Which is a good thing. The Celicas esp the GT4 were great cars too. Rant over!

Agree totally! In what way are the mk1 and mk2 MR2's not sports cars either!?

[Threeh]

Could be interesting, I'm hoping that they use some of this tech to put an affordable MR2 replacement back onto the market. That said I hope powering the front wheels doesn't loose any of back end happiness I like to associate with rear wheel Toyotas.