Is this Toyota's electric LFA successor?
In an unprecedented reveal, Toyota has laid bare its electric intentions for 2030 and beyond with a lineup of concept cars that makes Danny Bahar’s 2010 Lotus efforts look restrained and measured. No less than 15 prototypes indicate Toyota has sights set on all avenues of motoring in its efforts to reduce and eliminate carbon, from mobility pods to pickup trucks, from crossovers to full-on sportscars. It’s the latter we’ll focus on first.
See, the rumour of a tie-up with Lotus for a revival of the MR-2 sportscar has been floating around for a while. The Hethel marque has openly spoken of the next electric-powered Elise – which could serve as the MR-2’s British twin – packing a ‘chest’ battery pack sitting around where the engine would traditionally. This, as opposed to the more ubiquitous ‘Skateboard’ in-the-floor battery layout of many EVs. As for the GR prototype shown here? It’s an aggressive-looking thing but don’t let the supercar muscles fool you. The compact dimensions and pop-out roof are telling of a spiritual MR-2 successor with possible Lotus genes.
The other concept that very much caught our eye is the Sports Battery EV, badged as a Lexus. Without beating about the bush at all, Toyota president Akio Toyoda claimed it “inherits the driving taste, or the secret sauce, of the performance cultivated via the development of the LFA”. There’s talk of solid-state batteries, too, for high-performance cars capable of 0-62mph in the low twos, while also having range capabilities of over 434miles (700km).
Aesthetically, it looks like Toyota’s FT-One Concept – the car that inspired the GR Supra – has moved on with a new and evolved Lexus styling language that’s evident across many of these prototypes. It’s really quite beautiful, but also technical, in a typically Japanese way that we first saw with the curvaceous A80 Supra and FD generation Mazda RX-7 of the 1990s.
Other interesting models include a similarly-styled sexy Lexus saloon, what looks like a future Toyota Tacoma, a future FJ Cruiser-esque vehicle, multiple crossovers, SUVs, small cars and future mobility explorations. Why so many cars?
“We are living in a diversified world and in an era in which it is hard to predict the future,” Toyoda says in his opening gambit.
“Therefore, it is difficult to make everyone happy with a one-size-fits-all option. That is why Toyota wants to prepare as many options as possible for our customers around the world.”
As EVs proliferate, there are worries that personal transport – a major mode of expression for many over the last century – will suffer homogenisation. On this evidence, that’s exactly what Toyota is fervently fighting against. We’re all for it.
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Electric Avenue
