In the run-up to this year’s Japan Mobility Show (formerly the Tokyo Motor Show), the most buzz-worthy teasers came from Toyota
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The company showed off several angles of a low-slung, sleek, Supra-like electric sports coupe with the GR logo worn by Toyota’s sportiest cars.
The FT-Se is here. And it’s worthy of the buzz.
Officially, just a concept
The Toyota FT-Se Concept is a concept car — a design study meant to show off a direction future designs might take. The model is not officially headed for production.
But the concepts Toyota brought to this year’s show all seem fairly close to production-ready. The FT-Se shares the angular, vent-heavy design theme of the current GR Supra, but it’s fully electric.
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Few details — check that. No details.
Toyota has offered no mechanical details beyond that, so we’re left to speculate. Many electric vehicles come as either rear- or all-wheel-drive since engineers can easily pack small electric motors onto one or both axles. Engineers pushed the FT-Se’s wheels as far to the corners as any exotic car’s, where grippy AWD would give it monstrous high-speed cornering stability.
In previous teasers, Toyota revealed that the car would have special knee pads to protect the driver during high-G corners.
Toyota, through its Lexus luxury marque, has been public about its plans for a stick shift that will work with EVs. The car cries for one, though we’re sad to say that would probably slow it down.
Also see: Check out Kia’s new EV concepts: Could the weird-looking EV4 replace the Soul?
But it might be real
That’s all we know for now. Most of what Toyota has to offer are photos, not specifications.
But former CEO (and current board chair) Akio Toyoda has spoken about his desire for a third sports car to slot alongside the GR86 and GR Supra. Toyoda has stepped down from running the company day-to-day, so his so-called “three brothers” may not be a Toyota priority.
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But the FT-Se would give Toyota an electric halo product at a time when investors have pushed the company to plan more aggressively for the EV era. It’s not outlandish to think that this might appear, albeit in Supra-like-low-volume, on Toyota sales floors.
This story originally ran on KBB.com.
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