After giving us a taste of the Toyota FT-Se last week, the electric sports car concept has now made its full debut at the ongoing Japan Mobility Show 2023 (JMS). Described as a “high-performance sports BEV model proposed as one of the options for sports cars in the carbon-neutral era,” the FT-Se could very well preview the return of the MR2, which has been heavily rumoured. That would be a perfect middle-child between the GR86 and GR Supra!
According to the Japanese carmaker, the FT-Se shares major components with the SUV-type FT-3e that is also being presented at JMS 2023, although the company is not providing much in the way of technical information for now. This means we don’t know how many motors it has, how much power it makes, what battery it packs or how much range it will offer.
Toyota even briefly mentioned that it could even have a manual transmission! How well or satisfying an EV MT would feel without any engine note to go along with it remains to be seen, but the novel idea still sounds extremely interesting. Now who says EVs have to be boring?
Equally thrilling is the concept’s looks – properly striking while shares very little with its two eventual GR siblings. It’s thoroughly modern in appearance, with key design cues being prominent vertical daytime running lights that help to frame the face, somewhat reminiscent of the previous Toyota GR Sportscar Concept from 2021.
What’s even wilder is the wide, long slung shape of this new concept – to my eyes, it reminds me of the old Tommy Kaira cars from the good old Gran Turismo days (comment below if you remember it!). Calling it a modern Lotus Elise wouldn’t be too far fetched either! You can only imagine what shock it would be to the sports car world if it indeed goes into production looking even remotely similar to this.
Inside, it looks slightly more generic and less interesting. The FT-Se concept gets a minimalist, race car-like driver-focused cabin dressed in black and blue. To be expected, it gets a wide yoke steering, now flanked by two vertical touchscreens and a wider display above. The dashboard is also set low to offer great visibility.
The question now is, what will it be called? For it be a new MR2 would be the dream, but this being a GR model, would it be renamed the GR2 instead? I say, Toyota can call it whatever it wants, as long as it makes it into production. Well, perhaps not something like a bZ2S please?
GALLERY: Toyota FT-Se concept official photos
The post Toyota FT-Se – future MR2 EV, can be a manual too! appeared first on Paul Tan’s Automotive News.
