Another hybrid sports car concept, Toyota HT-FS Options

[sinner96ST]

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"We feel there's a hole in our lineup," says Kevin Hunter, the vice president of Calty Design Research. "Toyota hasn't had a sports car since the Supra was dropped in 1997. We need some emotional punch in our lineup, a halo product."

Toyota envisions that punch to be a rear-wheel-drive Hybrid Sports Concept (HSC) that develops 400 horsepower. "It's a new kind of sports car for the 21st century," adds Hunter. "Eco and emotion in a sports car concept with a performance target of 0-60 mph in about 4 seconds and a price tag in the mid-$30,000 range."

It's no Volta, but it sure looks good.

[sinner96ST]

Yeah, I believe when concepts are actually turned in to production they tone it down a little bit.

Still, the article brings up a good point about Toyota :

The Toyota Supra left these shores 10 years ago and Lexus took over the prestige role for the whole company. But as Toyota has crafted generation after generation of reliable yet uninspiring automobiles, the family of Toyota buyers has begun to look a little old. A sports car might be the right thing to wake up a new generation, especially since Toyota has a relevant performance heritage thanks to ownership of a Formula 1 team since 2002, a piece of victory at the 2003 Indianapolis 500, and a new fleet of cars in NASCAR's Nextel Cup for 2007

They have to produce *something* at some point in time, maybe a toned down version of this will become a reality, if they can work out the battery issues.

This post has been edited by sinner96ST: Dec 24, 2006 - 3:53 PM