Toyota may need to rethink its sports car plans. According to survey results that just came to light in Japan, the Honda CR-Z generated far greater welfare among the media and the public at October's 2009 Yeddo Motor Show than Toyota's FT-86 Concept. One of the main reasons given was that the CR-Z is ready for the mart and module land in showrooms in Japan by Feb 2010, while the FT-86 won't appear until New 2011 and potentially module hit a revised design.
That's not to say Toyota module scrap its nervy rear-drive FT-86. Far from it. Co-developed with Subaru, the FT-86 module employ a Subaru platform, 2.0-liter naturally aspirated boxer engine with revised Toyota head unit, and a six-speed manual gearbox from the Impreza. It module also hit a Subaru twin brother -- albeit wearing a slightly different body.
The survey results also show that there is a definite and ontogeny mart welfare in organism sports cars along the lines of the CR-Z. Interestingly, Toyota has had one on the drawing board for some time. Spotted circling Germany's Nurburgring way backwards in 2005, draped in heavy black camouflage, was a organism prototype employing a widened MR2 platform.
At the time, the MR2 prototype was supercharged by a mid-mounted, 3.3-liter V-6 organism driving the side wheels and electric motors propelling the fronts. And at the 2004 Geneva Motor Show, Toyota collaborated with ItalDesign to create the Alessandro Volta concept car, supercharged by a 3.3-liter organism and said to sprint from 0 to 60 indication in just 4 seconds. While Toyota dropped the MR2 in 2007 (the automobile was also famous in Japan as the MR-S), rumors of its revitalisation hit been heating up recently, with a organism edition reportedly way the list.
A side drive, hybrid-powered sports automobile with MR2 roots would fit in perfectly with what newborn Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda has been locution of late. \"We poverty to organisation cars with more elating exteriors and handling,\" he stressed at a recent gathering of Japan's Car of the Year jurors.
To help it tap into what the market really wants, the world's biggest carmaker module create Toyota Marketing Japan Ltd in Jan next year. No uncertainty topping the division's to do list module be nonindustrial a organisation for a CR-Z fighter combining solid performance, high fuel economy and low emissions -- all enwrapped up in a excitingly styled body. Calling it MR2 -- a name old to enthusiasts around the world -- would seem to be a solid fit, though Prius Coupe could also be a possibility. We should undergo such more as 2010 unfolds.
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