Toyota FT-1 Concept revealed
Toyota pulls a surprise out of the hat at Detroit with the astonishing FT-1 Concept
It was only recently Harris was talking about how the recession inspired abandonment of fast cars by the mainstream had him worried for his job. One by one brands with proud sporting heritages turned their backs on performance cars and rushed to sell us joyless automotive white goods instead. Few personified that trend more than Toyota, those of us with fond memories of Supras, Celicas and even MR2s instead confronted with increasingly pious hybrid options.
Toyota admits design by committee stifled
As Toyota concedes in the accompanying press release, most of its 'design decisions have been driven by consensus among a large group of people' - design by committee in other words. For the FT-1 'the process has been streamlined' and been carried out by Toyota's Calty design studio. The result is a bit Lexus LF-A, a bit Viper, a bit Ferrari F12 and a lot cool, it has to be said.
This being a classic concept there's no word of actual hardware under the bonnet or anything beyond references to classic sporting Toyotas of old, 2000 GT onwards. There are the predictable motorsports references - F1 inspired steering wheel, check - and gadgets like a HUD, fancy LF-A style graphics (see vid below) and active aero but also some interesting design features like a wraparound screen for better visibility on twisting roads.
The FT-1, says the press release, is part of 'a company movement to give Toyota products more energy and passion' and if the final result is the long rumoured new Supra or Celica inspired by this we'll be very happy indeed.
See the unveiling vid here.
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Whilst at the Ring Last september there were to Supra Lapping on the thursday
Blue and white one , niether sounded like a Straight 6 2Jze - and one definetly sounded like a duel Clutch box , im sure ive got a Video somewhere of it near Adenau bridge
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