Toyota FT-1 concept

Early this month, at the North American International Auto Show, Toyota debuted their first sports car since the MR2 was discontinued in June of 2007. So, they came out with fist flailing with a awesome design by CALTY Design Research from Newport Beach, CA. The car is called the FT-1 or Future Toyota One which is suppose to represent the new beginning of fun to drive cars from Toyota.

The design itself is inspired from F1 racing, with every little nook and cranny put in for a purpose. They were also inspired by the Supra and 2000GT, which both had very sleek and sexy profiles. Like the Supra, the FT-1 has a long nose with a very tight cabin that is almost at the very stern of the car. The nose of the FT-1 extrudes to shape a F1 style nose, that shows how much this car was designed next to TRD (Toyota Racing Department). While we are at the back of the car, they added a nice small duck fin spoiler that raises  to become a full spoiler when the need desirers. Although it is not a mid-engine car, the engine is behind the front axle and the cabin is in front of the rear axles, which (hopefully) make the car a very good handling car. Since it is a concept, there is not information on the drivetrain, but there have been hints that the engine might be a straight six.

On the inside, it looks as if it came right out of a since fiction movie. With a HUD, heads up display and a small screen on the top of the steering wheel that displays a tachometer, what gear you are in and the driving mode you are currently in. The seats are minimalist, in the way that the thick padding is where you will be in contact with the seat. All the switches even look like they were taken straight from Star Trek.

I have been wanting a car like this from Toyota for a while. Its sleek and sexy, which is something that they could benefit from sometimes. There is no set price yet, but it is rumored that it could cost somewhere around $60,000, which would be awesome. I hope another dippresion does not still birth this awesome concept, like many others that have come before.