Car of Cars: Toyota FT 86 Concept

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Toyota FT 86 Concept

toyota-ft-86

The Toyota FT-86 Concept is a concept car manufactured jointly by Toyota and Subaru. The vehicle consists of many design cues from the earlier FT-HS concept. All that is known about the car so far is that it will be a light front engine, rear drive, 4 or 5 seat coupé, with a new 2 litre Toyota-Subaru "D-4S" Boxer engine.
The FT-86 rides on a modified Subaru Impreza platform with 101.2-inch wheelbase, with length, width, and height measuring 163.8, 69.3, and 49.6 inches, respectively.A base price in the US$20,000 range is expected when the car hits the market with the Subaru version following shortly afterwards.
It is expected that the Toyota and Subaru versions will be styled similarly on the outside, with the Subaru version getting different head and tail lights and a different hood. It has a 2.0 litre naturally aspirated boxer engine mated to a Subaru 6-speed manual transmission.The concept is fitted with brakes from Advics, a joint venture company formed between Aisin Seiki, Denso, Sumitomo Electric and Toyota.
According to chief engineer Tetsuya Tada, the unique shoujyouhi red colour was based on the colour of a Japanese monkey's backside.
The FT-86 Concept was first shown at the Oct 2009 Tokyo Motor Show and the first showing outside of Japan was at the March 2010 Geneva Motor Show.An enhanced version called the FT-86 G Sports Concept was shown at the January 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon as part of the Toyota G Sports range.
At the Oct 2009 Tokyo Motor Show, Jim Lentz, COO and President of Toyota Motor Sales USA confirmed that the production version of the FT-86 is scheduled to be sold in America but an actual date was not yet disclosed.However, at the March 2010 Geneva Motor Show, Toyota Europe announced that the production version of the vehicle will be released in November 2011.
On 2 September 2010, English (British) car magazine AutoExpress reported the Subaru model will feature an all-wheel drive drivetrain as opposed to the salient feature of rear-wheel drive for the Toyota-badged model. It is reported the Subaru model will have a greater rear-axle torque bias. The feature of an F4 layout would also be fully coherent with the model policy and mechanical characteristics of all Subaru cars of the past 30 years.
Toyota Europe presented the FT-86 II Concept at the March 2011 Geneva Motor Show as the successor to the FT-86 Concept.