Toyota 86 Convertible Concept for Geneva
Feb 4, 2013 By Toyota Australia.
Toyota will stoke the passions of driving enthusiasts when it unveils a concept for a convertible version of the popular 86 sports car at next month's Geneva motor show.
The FT-86 Open concept is a sneak preview of a possible future variant of the award-winning
86 that was launched in Australia last year.
The concept has been created to gauge customer reaction for an open-top version of the 86.
The world premiere of the concept is occurring at the same time as prototype engineering assessments take place.
The FT-86 Open concept, which will show how driving pleasure could be taken to another level, demonstrates Toyota's continued success with sports cars.
It comes more than three years after Toyota showed its first concept for a compact-rear-wheel-drive sports car at the 2009 Tokyo motor show.
The original FT-86 Concept (Future Toyota 86) was designed to give the driver greater control with a compact design, light body and low centre of gravity. It promised power and environmental performance from a two-litre boxer engine.
The next car in the series was the FT-86G Sports Concept car, which gained an aggressive styling and performance makeover by Toyota's technical partner GAZOO Racing. It retained the front-engine, rear-drive layout of a classic sports car with power from a specially tuned turbocharged engine.
The third car in the series - the FT-86 II Concept - was debuted at the Geneva motor show two years ago and was also shown at the 2011 Australian International Motor Show in Melbourne. Its compact proportions featured a long, low bonnet, high wings and rear-set cabin.
The production 86 went on sale in Australia in June last year to instant acclaim. It dramatically redefined the concept of an affordable sports car and scooped most of the major motoring awards.
Toyota's 2013 Geneva motor show presence will also include the European debut of the fourth-generation
RAV4.
The new car builds on its pioneering heritage to reflect the stronger emphasis placed on family use by the segment's customers, without sacrificing any of the model's core values.
The new RAV4 offers distinctive styling, refined premium-quality interior design, greater efficiency and further enhancements to its all-wheel drive system for a more engaging drive.
The debut of the new RAV4 will be supported by two design studies - the RAV4 'Premium' and the RAV4 'Adventure'.
Toyota press conference in Geneva will be at 1 p.m. (11 p.m. AEDT) on Tuesday, March 5.