Toyota FT-86 Concept revealed ahead of Tokyo Show

After years of waiting Toyota has finally come clean with its new 2.0-litre boxer sports car, the FT-86 Concept, which will be unveiled at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show.

While it's called a concept, the car is looking very close to production readiness; not surprising given recently installed Toyota president Akio Toyoda said he wanted to fast-track the new sportscar to inject some excitement into the range. The Toyota version of the new car could be on the roads by late next year or early in 2011 with the Subaru effort following shortly afterwards, most likely by the end of 2011.

It's been known for some time that Toyota and Subaru have been collaborating on a new sports coupe, referred to by some as the 'Toybaru', a vehicle that would give Subaru a low-slung coupe model while delivering Toyota a replacement for the long-running Celica.

But instead of paying homage to the Celica, MR2 or Supra, Toyota has looked to the Corolla AE86 'Sprinter' cult classic and resurrected the 'Hachi Roku' name - meaning '86' in Japanese. The FT part of the name relates to 'Future Toyota', befitting the car's concept title.

Powered by a 2.0-litre boxer engine developed by Subaru, expected to develop at least 118kW in its basic state of tune, the rear-wheel drive coupe was designed at Toyota's ED2 styling studio in France to inject more excitement into the Japanese carmaker's line-up.

The new FT-86 is believed to be a close to production design, and is a fairly compact vehicle which bodes well for its dynamics. It measures 4.16 metres long, much shorter than Holden's Cruze small car at 4.59 metres.

Sitting low to the ground, the FT-86 concept is just 1.26 metres tall and 1.76 metres wide, sitting on a wheelbase of 2.57 metres. Toyota says the 2+2 coupe will have a "compact feeling that is easy for the driver to handle while able to accommodate four occupants" adding that it would also have be a light vehicle with a low centre of gravity.

"The FT-86 Concept boasts the handling of a racing car as well as a six-speed manual transmission and ADVICS brakes," boasts the Japanese car maker, which has also worked to optimise the car's aerodynamics for better performance.

Takeshi Tachimori, head of Subaru's Product and Portfolio Planning Division, recently revealed to Carsales Network some important details about the Toyota-Subaru joint venture.

Quizzed on whether the car could be engineered with different motors, specifically Subaru's flat six-cylinder engines, Tachimori said "no comment", but later qualified that "It [presents] an opportunity for future enhancements..."

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