Toyota embraced its quirky side in 2017 with the Concept-i, its vision for a future that is friendly and fun. Fast forward two years and the company has brought the outlandish show car a little closer to reality, as it readies a fleet of vehicles for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo.
From the looks of it, the organic, heavily-glazed design has been retained, complete with gold detailing, faired-in rear wheels and an abundance of tessellated patterns. A few changes have been made for actual road use, however – the wheels are smaller, and there are now four conventional doors with flush door handles, wing mirrors and tiny opening windows. There are also reflectors in the rear diffuser.
The interior has also kept many of the design cues of the concept’s pared-back cabin, such as the curved dashboard and floating centre console. Here too, there are a few tweaks like the larger, more substantial seats and a round steering wheel. Ahead of the driver is a sleek white instrument display, the contents of which are mirrored on the sizeable head-up display.
No specifications have been revealed, but Toyota has confirmed that the new Concept-i will be a battery electric vehicle, equipped with Level 4 autonomous driving and artificial intelligence to facilitate conversation with the occupants. Toyota intends to demonstrate these features through test drives and rides on the roads surrounding Toyota’s Megaweb brand showcase centre.
The Concept-i will serve as the operating vehicle for the Olympic torch relay and the lead vehicle for the marathon events. It will join around 3,700 other vehicles on official duty at the games, nearly 90% of which will feature some form of electrification, whether hybrid, plug-in hybrid, full electric or hydrogen fuel cell.
These include an Accessible People Mover (APM) for last-mile transportation for people with “special mobility needs”, a functional version of the e-Palette for staff and athletes, as well as various personal mobility devices – including one that attaches to wheelchairs. Toyota will also supply around 500 units of the Mirai and the Sora fuel cell bus to supplement the approximately 850 EVs.
All in all, Toyota aims to achieve lowest emissions of any official fleet in the Olympics, with an estimated average carbon dioxide emissions of under 80 grams per kilometre – around half the typical amount of a typical petrol- or diesel-powered fleet.
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It should fly right? Cuz the rear wheels have been changed to humongous speakers. If it doesn’t fly, I would be displeased since our KDK flying car is nearly 85% complete. I play to buy our national flying car at RM40k, fly over to Tokyo and join their flying car parade during Tokyo 2020.
Improve your English first before spurting sarcasm. “I play to buy…..”
Dude. In all the sentences and only 1 letter was misplaced. No need to be grammar-nazi til that extend.
Proton must learn how to design game changing cars from Toyota. Look at those futuristic cars, it made Proton cars looked so outdated
Speakers at rear for those ah bengs that like to share their fengtau music you can hear 1 block away. With these 15 inch speakers, you will know they are coming before you see them ah bengs. This type of car I need to tarik from rear when I take repossession few months after CNY. Very paiseh!
The car looks like a computer mouse.
The bus looks like a breadbox.
The APM looks like a 4 wheeled tuk tuk.
A big automaker like Toyota, and these are the best they’ve got? They must be scraping the gutters to find these underwhelming designs.
You talk like you can do better. Please do so instead of being a keyboard warrior
BN and Proton cybertroopers always syok sendiri. They think they can do better. but, results we get are cars like Savvy and Juara
You do realise that Juara is a Mitsu Townbox rite? You want to blame anyone go blame the Japs.
Give me the same budget as Toyota have put and I can find you grad students that could do better. No need to go laying on other folks being a keyboard warrior.