What is it?
Why it's the new Toyota Celica, of course. It might not have been properly christened yet, but this rear-wheel drive coupé - co-developed with Subaru - is almost production ready and looks set to mark a dramatic return to form for Toyota as a brand for keen driver types. People like us.
Why's it here?
Toyota has gone all green of late, but now it wants to re-establish itself as a dynamic player, and this is the way to do it. The Subaru tie means it'll get 'boxer' configured power, possibly turbocharged, but the shell will be light and nimble so that it's both involving and cheap. It's a small thing - about the same size as a
BMW 1 Series Coupé - but it will seat four.
Toyota hasn't completely turned its back on its favourite colour though, showing off three green concepts in Tokyo. First there's the FT-EVII, which is smaller than the
miniscule iQ but seats four, partly because it has a joystick where the wheel should be. Then there's the plug-in Prius, which we've seen already so won't bore you with, and finally the SAI 'luxury hybrid' saloon.
Show stopper or floor filler?
The FT-86 is a show stopper, make no mistake, and we can't wait to get our hands on it, probably by the end of next year. The rest is predictably green - relevant in the current epoch but not the sort of stuff to travel all the way to Japan to see.
Mark Nichol - 22 Oct 2009
