Let’s face it: no child hangs a poster of an electrical crossover up on their bed room wall. However they may simply try this for a hot-looking electrical sports activities automotive, just like the Toyota FT-Se Idea that debuted on the Japan Mobility Present this week. However the automotive’s personal designer admitted to InsideEVs that the FT-Se could also be greater than only a dream, and it would even be coming prior to we expect.
Hideaki Iida, the challenge supervisor for the GR (Gazoo Racing) Design Group and designer of the FT-Se Idea, instructed me in an interview on the present stand that the automotive does actually share the identical battery pack because the Lexus LF-ZC that’s formally confirmed for manufacturing. And whereas Toyota hasn’t stated whether or not the FT-Se will change into an actual automotive or not, Iida was adamant that it will be after that Lexus makes its debut.
“We will launch the Lexus mannequin in 2026 and this one afterward,” Iida stated. “We won’t assure the 12 months itself, however as quickly as attainable. After 2026 is what I can let you know.”
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That is the strongest affirmation we have gotten from anybody at Toyota but that this sporting EV may change into a actuality. However while you observe the proof right here – and I’ve spent a number of days doing this myself – all of it provides up. First, let’s begin with the truth that from nostril to tail, together with the inside, the FT-Se seems a little bit extra “completed” than lots of the different ideas Toyota put onstage on the auto present. The Land Cruiser Se, for instance, had lined home windows and no inside in any respect. (Equally, the Toyota EPU truck idea appeared awfully near actual too.)
Subsequent, think about what Iida stated subsequent: “This can be a brand-new design language to indicate this can be a new model… not conventional.” He demurred at the concept that the FT-Se had something to do with the MR2, and even the Supra, although they each share a Gurney-style bubble roof; this one appears meant to face by itself. Besides that once I sat on a roundtable interview with Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda for Highway & Monitor this summer season, he confirmed Toyota’s GR efficiency division was getting its personal standalone EV. Contemplating this designer works with GR, it may very properly be this automotive.
Lastly, different Toyota of us I spoke to on the present alluded to the FT-Se ultimately doing one thing with the corporate’s deliberate simulated “handbook” gearbox for EVs – one thing additionally due out round 2026. That is what Toyoda alluded to on the time: “It has a handbook transmission. There’s additionally clutches too,” he stated. Now, the FT-Se inside did not have something like that, however a manufacturing automotive may. Although that concept could appear foolish for an EV, Toyota appears to need to protect the tactile really feel and management that handbook gearboxes supply, simply in a zero-emission bundle.
Iida did not need to remark once I requested him concerning the manufacturing automotive’s energy ranking, goal weight, or worth, however he did say it is envisioned to compete with the Porsche Boxster and Cayman – two vehicles additionally anticipated to go all-electric within the coming years.
So moreover its designer popping out and saying it can occur after the manufacturing LF-ZC’s debut, many indicators level to the FT-Se turning into a actuality sometime. I believe it is best to attend till we get the official phrase – in spite of everything, loads of new EVs have seen vital delays these days – however most indicators level to Toyota really desirous to make this factor. I say convey it on; EVs have but to make actual inroads into the pure sports activities automotive phase, however that is certain to alter sometime. It could as properly begin with this one.
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