Toyota is on the verge of another breakthrough with the Toyota FT-1 and its coming fast down the horizon.
This monster was originally designed in 2007 and has been continuously tweaked since then. With this 2015 concept, the Toyota FT-1 (the next Supra) is for now little less than other worldly.
Planned by Toyota’s best design teams as well as its racing team for improved aerodynamics, this car has taken the phrase “Street Legal Race Car” to another level. It takes the best of Lexus, Toyota, Scion, and Toyota’s racing team, bundles them up in a tight package – that seems to be more at home on the track than on the road – and makes it work like a fat lady in a bagel shop. The seats look just as comfortable as anything on a race track and the cockpit is a marvel of Toyota racing technology.
A combination of carbon fiber, leather, suede and brushed aluminum make up the interior. The dash is a head up display reflected off a glass panel and is different from anything we have seen in a production car to date; however in a racing car, not so much. Following current European supercar trends, there is (at least for now) no shifter. Tech wizardry aside, this car is quite a beast. It’s long and low slung smoked tinted hood should be a reminder of just what car the FT-1 is going to be posed against. As far as the interior goes, don’t expect it to be this crude if it debuts in 2016 or 2017. Also as this is designed to be a Toyota sports car, don’t bet on a big V8. Toyota has typically been one to install big V6’s with twin turbos for boost and power. I’m pretty sure they’re going to stick to that formula for the new Supra.
When the new Supra does make its debut it will be powered by enough juice to shred the tires. Whether it will be all four tires (a la Audi) or standard rear drive is beyond us for now as the power plant in this concept is just a golf cart engine with just enough power to make the car move. We also don’t know if Toyota (the current leader in hybrid power plants) is going to have this as a hybrid or straight compression engine. At this time they are being extremely tight lipped about everything except how sexy the body of this baby is and what the interior could possibly be designed from.
There is also an active spoiler but we will not find out the details to at what speed it deploys for quite some time. Just check out the profile of the Toyota FT-1 concept. Remind you of anything? Hmmm. Possibly a certain Chevrolet Corvette underwater animal that recently made its debut in 2014? Hey, I’m just sayin. With Toyota shooting for a base price of just over $60,000 it should be a pretty safe bet to say that the frugal man’s super-car is again on the horizon.
I’ve been following this and the Lexus LFA for a while.
You can definitely see some of the design language of this car has trickled down into the Scion FRS/Subaru BRZ and Lexus RC. Though, it does have a tinge of Nissan 370z on the back end. This car’s styling is more aggressive and angular than the most recent Scion designs. Which, I’m really surprised that Toyota is turning Scion into a pedestrian looking brand instead of being more innovate like it originally was. The Scion iM, iA, and tC look like any other Toyota or Korean branded car now instead of unique and quirky. I still think Toyota needs a sports coupe with Toyota branding instead of tossing it over to Lexus and Scion.
However, by this not being a European luxury brand, I don’t think I’ll see to many black ‘ballers’ running towards the FT1. Still surprised that I’ve still not seen a black person in a Tesla here in Atlanna.
60k for a toyota… call me a brand snob but i’m not dropping 60 big on a toyota. sorry no matter how unique it is.
The high price tag is the problem the JZA80 Supra had back in the 1990s they were $45K brand new. The 300ZX TT, 3000GT, and RX-7 also were similarly priced which helped lead to their demise because people balked at the cost for a non luxury brand Japanese car. Price and performance wise the Supra crossed into Corvette territory. Previously these Japanese performance cars were priced more in line with the Mustang, Camaro, and Firebird. Ultimately the JZA80 Supra became extremely sought after on the used car market once the word got out these cars were capable of putting out 1000hp + even with a stock block. If the new car can put out similar if not better performance than the current competition it may be worth the $60K. It’s got some stiff competition from Nissan’s GT-R or even domestic muscle cars like Chrysler’s R/T, SRT, Hellcat cars, GM’s Camaro SS, Z/28, ZL1, SS sedan, Corvette, and Ford’s new Mustang GT 5.0, Shelby GT350 all of which can cost any where from 45K to over 100K
This.
Because people will run out and get a high end Corvette from the same company that makes the Aveo.
It’s all about brand perception and value. Only educated enthusiasts would bother buying a Honda NSX or Toyota Soarer but slap Acura or Lexus on it and a different name and…boom! The masses are running towards it.
Case in point… Try as hard as Kia might, but that K900… ain’t nobody checking for that at that price. Kia isn’t a brand people are checking for at that price range, and I can’t even imagine a luxury Korean brand being successfully in the US.
I’m still not convinced the FT-1 will see production. Toyota has been promising a new Supra since the 350Z debut over a decade ago. I’ll believe it when it shows up at dealerships. That said if they do produce another Supra it better have a turbo inline 6. Judging by the length of the engine in this concept and the fact they’re working with BMW on this I’ll keep my fingers crossed. If it does have the V6 hybrid bullshit I’ve heard about they should call it something else because it won’t be a true Supra.