Toyota will use the Detroit auto show to launch its FT-EV electric commuter car concept. The vehicle previews a compact urban hatchback expected to hit the market as a 2012 model. Based on the iQ minicar, the FT-EV is lightweight and seats four passengers.
Details of the battery-powered car’s range, charge time, and performance figures were not disclosed. Toyota has hinted the low-cost car’s lithium-ion batteries will enable it to travel 50 miles on a charge.
“Our business is no longer about simply building and selling cars and trucks. It is about finding solutions to mobility challenges today and being prepared for more daunting challenges in our very near future,” explained Irv Miller, Toyota’s Vice President of Environmental and Public Affairs.
“Now, more than ever, while we are so focused on the pressing issues of the moment, we cannot lose sight of our future,” added Miller. “Last summer’s four-dollar-a-gallon gasoline was no anomaly. It was a brief glimpse of our future,” said Miller. “We must address the inevitability of peak oil by developing vehicles powered by alternatives to liquid-oil fuel.”
Last year, Toyota announced that it planned to sell one million gas-electric hybrids per year sometime during the early 2010s. To accomplish this, Toyota will launch as many as 10 new hybrid models by the early 2010s, in various global markets. The new third-generation Toyota Prius and all new Lexus HS250h, both debuting in Detroit, are the first two examples of that effort.
01/10, 10:35 PM
posted by:
Commodore
Gross
01/10, 10:41 PM
posted by:
elviososa
errr….can do better….but not gross.
01/10, 11:39 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
Reminds me of the Ford Comuta. Pretty much a photo-me-booth pedal car with batteries.
01/10, 11:41 PM
posted by:
johnnycanuck
This is merely a ploy to divert our attention from the Camaro’s one month production delay.
01/10, 11:45 PM
posted by:
MHW
If this Fisher Price Toy seats four, I would hate to be the sorry suckers that get stuck in the back.
01/11, 1:59 AM
posted by:
cereal
uh… for a concept car, they should have made this a little bit less iQ. But it works.. ?
-eat your cereal
01/11, 4:50 AM
posted by:
Riot Nrrrd
There’s something ironic about people calling this “Gross” on a site where people drool over the butt-ugly Buick Lacrosse.
I’m not fond of the overly-fat front bumper (feels like a face with the mouth stapled shut – it needs a small grille for airflow and to break up the bulge), but this is exactly the type of car that carmakers in 2010 *should* be building. Small, doesn’t rely on oil, good for the environment, etc.
We now return you to our regularly-scheduled drooling over 500+ HP gas-guzzling, wasteful, “Global Warming? What global warming?” automobiles.
01/11, 9:46 AM
posted by:
darx_ider
I will take anything over GM, Ford and Chrysler!
01/11, 11:11 AM
posted by:
idrinorbarsaku
i think i just threw up a little…
01/11, 11:26 AM
posted by:
oldraven
I notice they don’t show a photo of the supposed rear seats.
It really is ugly, isn’t it? I hope it’s at least stupidly cheap, because this is a poor attempt at an EV in North America (it is being debuted in Detroit). It only manages to inch another ten miles more than the Volt, and it’s only half of a car with no range extending engine or fuel tank. The Volt really is showing it’s worth now that we see the competition. No one else making an EV is making a real one that average people could use and afford.
That being said, I’m sure this is a test bed for using Li-Ion in the Prius.
01/11, 4:20 PM
posted by:
tyler_is_aero_tt
What ever happens in Japan stays in Japan.
01/11, 4:39 PM
posted by:
Mutant@DCX
I’m hoping that this is a time machine that will transport us back the 1965, cause I don’t like what’s in the future.
01/11, 4:44 PM
posted by:
jayjc08
riot nrrd, I hope your happy about record cold winters! And I hope darx_ider is happy driving in those record cold winters with a car like this!!!
Just another neighborhood vehicle pet project. And yes, now that we see the competition, we see just how smart GM was with the Volt… surprisingly, that isn’t sarcasm.
01/12, 1:11 PM
posted by:
t-ak-box
Its an iQ in Electric mode.
01/12, 10:10 PM
posted by:
maxcar
dorky decals. some oddities (the white on the door frame at the b pillar). the gold is very early nineties. the general form is appealing, though.
01/13, 1:06 AM
posted by:
Bankruptcy2009
I’d buy this over a 40K Chevy Volt anyday. Especially since it gets 50 miles on a charge vs 40 and its probably a hell of alot cheaper as they say. I like it I like it alot. Toyota should be proud to be a leader in the field of environmentally friendly vehicles. I commend them.