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Toyota considering hybrid sports car

Quote:

Toyota is hoping to transfer its sales momentum to the sports car segment, Toyota executives told Dow Jones Newswires Monday. And a new hybrid model will be at the center of that movement, the sources said. The new model is "going to be global project, not one aimed at one region more than another. The concept is a hybrid," said Tokuo Fukuichi, the head of Toyota's ED2 design center. "We made a proposal to head office for a hybrid sports car. We're not sure that we're going to proceed with that but every time we develop a new car we consider a hybrid system. We have limited resources," he said.

Recent rumors have suggested a hybrid car could fill the gap left by the discontinuation of the Celica and MR2, and Fukuichi's comments seem to confirm that this is a strong possibility. "The sports car will come, but I don't know exactly when. Since we stopped production of the Celica and the MR2, there's a gap in that end of our range where we don't get the full impact of our participation in Formula 1," he said.

In February, we noted an Autocar report that suggested the Celica replacement will feature hybrid powertrain. The 2007/2008 model is said to be mid-engined, with four seats and all-wheel-drive. The car is also said to feature a folding metal hardtop — something that has never been seen before in a mid-engine car. It will take some inspiration from the CS+S Concept (shown below), the report said.

Fukuichi said Toyota has received a high volume of request for a sports car from dealers and customers. He said such a car would have to be affordable but also offer a lot of advanced technology. He said the target will be young, affluent buyers.

http://i6.tinypic.com/153pdg4.jpg http://i6.tinypic.com/153pdv9.jpg

But I read like a year ago that it’s already been confirmed that there will be another MR2 that will be hybrid. I think I even heard they have already been testing a mule of it on the ring.

Plus isn’t Toyota going to ONLY hybrid models by 2010 or something? So this isnt really new, I have already been expecting to see a new hybrid version of EVERY Toyota model.

I've never heard anything confirmed about a new MR2... What was testing on the 'Ring, was the Lexus LF-A supercar.

If you watched the 5th Gear review conducted by Jason Plato on the Lexus hybrid you'd know that a hybrid sports car is really exciting proposition. If legistlation's in place to give tax breaks to these models expect a lot of happy performance nuts. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by evoWALO

Those tax breaks and other incentives won't be around long as hybrids become more popular.

Quote:

Originally Posted by evoWALO

Yes I did see that episode and yeah I guess tax breaks would be good for people in the UK. But again I have been hearing about Toyota doing a hybrid Mr2 and other sports cars since 2004... So again it’s not like its some big surprise. Toyota is going all hybrid, here is an article about it from last september-

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/14/au...erland&emc=rss

"FRANKFURT, Sept. 13 (Bloomberg News) - The Toyota Motor Corporation said this week that all its vehicles would eventually be run by hybrid gasoline-electric motors, as record fuel prices curb demand for conventional automobiles.

"In the future, the cars you see from Toyota will be 100 percent hybrid," Kazuo Okamoto, executive vice president, told reporters in Frankfurt Monday, without giving a specific timetable."

"Mr. Watanabe told investors he could not give a time frame for halving the price premium. Nihon Keizai reported on its Web site Tuesday that he gave a target of 2010."

"We believe that in 10 years the world will be filled with hybrids," Mr. Okamoto said."

Clean diesel > Hybrids