Toyota is determined to shrug off the cardigan and takes to the Melbourne Motor Show with a bevvy of sports vehicles.
Say ‘Toyota’, and people usually think of a reliable car, an environmentally friendly hybrid, or a kitchen appliance…
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Though its recent efforts in motorsport are recognised, and its Toyota Racing Development (TRD) performance arm has a second vehicle waiting in the wings, Toyota’s line up has essentially been devoid of a true sports coupe since the axe of its Celica and MR2 variants in 2005.
Toyota yesterday announced three of its Melbourne Motor Show stars, and all are essentially performance cars. One is a coupe – and it’s a Hybrid.
The second car from TRD is a surprise package in itself. While TRD’s first vehicle was launched last year as a hi-po Aurion sedan, the second TRD is a Ute.
The TRD HiLux isn’t just a dual cab with a go-fast glitter pack. TRD has hotted up the standard 175kW 4.0-litre V6 petrol powerplant with a full-blown supercharger, claiming a 25 per cent hike in power and 20 per cent rise in torque. Do the math, and that’s a workhorse hauler developing about 220kW of power from lower rpm, and 410Nm of torque.
In a second display of power, Toyota is also presenting a factory Toyota drag car that develops a stupid 1300kW.
The Pro Factory Extreme category dragster, which looks (mildly) similar to a production car on the outside, runs a turbocharged 3.2-litre six familiar from the old Supra, and can clock 100km/h in under a second.
But Toyota may bring back the Supra in production form sometime in the near future – and its future is electric.
The Future Toyota Hybrid Sports coupe concept (FT-HS), which was shown at the Detroit Motor Show back in January 2006, has made the leap to Oz.
While it is still in futuristic concept form, its continued appearance may point towards Toyota’s plans for a new Supra-type sports car that even the greenies will approve of.
The FT-HS was designed in the home of the Greenie – the Calty Design Research studio in Newport Beach, California.
It stays true to the front-engine, rear-drive Supra GT layout, but replaces the engine with a petrol-electric hybrid powerplant based on Prius technology.
This engine may ring some bells – not only is Toyota’s 3.5-litre V6, familiar from production models such as the Aurion and the Rav4 SUV, but it is already matched to an electric engine in Toyota’s luxury Lexus GS range.
The GS450h, which was launched here in May 2006, proffers 218kW and 368Nm from its petrol-electric powerplant, while sipping a combined 7.9 litres/100km.
Toyota has hinted at around 300kW in the FT-HS, with a 0-100km/h dash of around four seconds.
To put that in perspective, the Porsche 911 Carrera clocks in at 5.0-secs.
