TOKYO MOTOR SHOW: Baby 86 to head Toyota wares

An all-new compact sports car to slot beneath the 86 coupe will be the headline act of a broad line-up of concept and production cars from the world's largest car-maker at this month’s Tokyo motor show.

Designed to inject more sport into the Japanese giant's image, the highly anticipated S-FR – which stands for Small Front-engine Rear-drive – is a small 2+2-seat coupe that Toyota says will become its entry-level sports car , as we reported in August.

Hence, the yet-to-be-named production version of the S-FR concept will be positioned in showrooms below the 86 coupe within an eventual three-pronged Toyota sports car line-up that will include the new Supra successor co-developed with BMW.

Toyota is remaining tight-lipped on performance, but we have it on good authority that the compact coupe will tip the scales at about 980kg and be powered by a naturally-aspirated 1.5-litre four-cylinder petrol engine generating around 97kW, giving it a similar power-to-weight ratio as Mazda's base MX-5 for an even lower price.

Expect the S-FR to go into production in late 2016 before sales commence in early 2017, with pricing likely to start from under $25,000.

Meanwhile, by unveiling the FCV Plus Concept at Tokyo, Toyota continues to put its weight behind the burgeoning hydrogen-powered fuel-cell electric vehicle (FCEV) movement.

Earlier this year, Toyota became the first manufacturer to launch a mass-production FCEV in the Mirai. Looking more like a spaceship than a car, the FCV Plus is a four-seat monocell vehicle powered by a more compact arrangement of the Mirai’s fuel-cell stack and hydrogen tanks.

The FCV Plus can also generate electricity for other uses, enabling it to be used as a portable source of power at home or on location. When the car is parked, its electric power becomes part of the social infrastructure, supplying other vehicles or the local power grid.

Apart from trying to inject both fun and environmental consciousness into its product range with the S-FR and FCV Plus respectively, Toyota will also use the Tokyo show to question the way cars are made and the level of craftsmanship that goes into them.

Enter the bare-bones Kikai, for which Toyota has taken the machinery normally hidden beneath the car’s body and brought it out into the open, making the function a component of the exterior.

From the centrally positioned driver’s seat surrounded by four analogue gauges, the pilot can see the suspension struts in motion through glassed viewports and, as Toyota puts it, get a more instinctive sensory connection with the vehicle.

Toyota also thinks the car, or its accessories, should talk to you. So it created a 100mm-tall robot seemingly inspired by Astro Boy, which has a sympathetic heart and can carry on a basic conversation with occupants.

A cross between Siri and R2D2 with a toned-down Iron Man look, 'Kirobo Mini' could add value to future Toyota cars by connecting them with customers emotionally.

Also on display from Toyota at its home motor show will be the turbocharged AWD Yaris test mule that’s currently under development for its World Rally Championship assault in 2017, and the Australian-spec LandCruiser used in the Toyota Discovery Tour, an employee driving project launched in mid-2015.

Of course, the Japanese giant will also host the domestic debut of its new Prius hybrid hatch and C-HR compact crossover concept, which made their global premieres at Frankfurt last month.