Most development work underway on the Toyota FT-86 is being done by Subaru engineers. After all, Toyota chief Akio Toyoda points to the four-cylinder boxer engine, allowing "racecar-like handling," even though it's on Subie's first rear-drive platform in recent memory. Toyota is handling the styling and packaging in this joint venture, which began after General Motors dumped its interest in Fuji Heavy Industries and Toyota Motor Company took up the slack.
The FT-86 has some Celica/Supra in its sheetmetal, especially the nose and hood. The fast roofline and short rear overhang hints that the rear seats -- the concept features 2+2 racing buckets -- are useful for show and for toddlers at best. A distinctive front fender crease picks up from the rear of the wheel opening and extends up into the hood, as if to call attention to the diminutive sport coupe's dash-to-axle ratio. The concept is just 163.8-inches long (about half a foot longer than a Miata) on a 101.2-inch wheelbase.
It's 69.3 inches wide and just 49.6 inches tall. "It is often said that young people today have drifted away from cars," Toyota president and scion Toyoda said, "but I feel that it may not be the customers who have drifted away from cars, but us, the manufacturers." He continued, "The FT-86 Concept was developed to give form to the intrinsic joy automobiles provide -- things like the accelerator and steering exactly matching the driver's intentions and the feeling of wanting to drive more -- and to provide it to customers as soon as possible." That means, in the case of the Toyota FT-86, early 2012.
Thanks to: Motor Trend
Tokyo Show 2009 Highlights: Toyota FT-86 Concept
