The Tokyo Motor Show in late October is usually time for Japanese carmakers to let out their wild and whimsical side, and this year’s edition is shaping up to be no exception. Making its appearance there is a rather intriguing concept car based on the Toyota 86 – the GR HV Sports, as it’s called, showcases a number of novel ways Toyota intends to preserve the art of driving in ever more environmentally conscious society.
While the underlying bones of the donor sports car are clear to see, there are plenty of tweaks that mark the GR HV Sports out. First of all, it’s a targa, which is claimed to hark back to the Sports 800 and Supra. It also has a redesigned nose that makes the car a massive 155 mm longer than the 86; it’s also 30 mm wider.
Many of the design cues have been lifted from the TS050 Hybrid prototype racer, with details such as the large vertical LED headlights, sizeable front air intakes, 19-inch ten-spoke aluminium wheels, slim tail lights and massive rear diffuser, plus gaping air vents in place of the tail lights.
There are fewer changes on the inside, save for the Gazoo Racing badge on the steering wheel and a digital instrument cluster. Look down, however, and you’ll notice something very peculiar – a manual H-pattern shifter (integrating the ignition button under a flip-up cover, like a jet fighter’s missile switch), despite there being a row of automatic gear selector buttons just below the head unit.
Indeed, the GR HV Sports has an automatic transmission, but drivers can switch to manual shifting with just a push of a button, letting them enjoy the feel of a six-speed manual. Quite what form that transmission will take is unknown, whether a conventional six-speed auto or an electronic continuously variable transmission (eCVT) as on a Prius – or even the Multi-Stage Hybrid system found on the Lexus LS 500h and LC 500h.
Engine details are also unknown, but Toyota says the GR HV Sports will utilise a new Toyota Hybrid System-Racing (THS-R) system, which is claimed to feature technology from the TS050. That car uses twin MGU-K (motor-generator unit-kinetic) units on each axle to recuperate energy usually lost under braking, juicing a lithium-ion battery instead of the capacitors that power its TS030 and TS040 predecessors.
As far-fetched as all this sounds, this powertrain technology could actually see the light of day very soon, either in a more powerful 86 variant or, more likely, the next Supra. Toyota has long been rumoured to be keen on incorporating its Le Mans technology into its flagship sports car, and the GR HV Sports concept could be the first step towards that goal.
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McGyver
Knight rider springs to mind , or cybercop , or kamen rider….
But this thing is still in its infancy
Its heavy too in sure
Whatever it is, it is one of the best, if not the best looking Toyota I have ever seen. It’s design of the front and back end is marvelous!
Nothing special with its design
Take my money now!
Those are very massive automatic gear selection buttons. Awesome…
that’s one very good looking sports car.. perhaps the best looking sports car Toyota ever created!
It is good looking because the previous are all ugly. But if compare with other brands, itbis still far behind
If I say most if not all new EV cars takes away the fun of driving a sports car the way it is intended to.
Nothing beats a slick shifting manual gear when U can change the gear as & when U wanted to. I’ll take the current GT 86 over this hybrid sports car.
Looks…. interesting, has a mixed of Cyberpunk in its design, looking something Akira or Ghost In The Shell. Anyways the apply the CRZ powertrain concept with some beefier motors (petrol and electric) and you get the general concept. Perhaps even two electric motor with a manual gearbox sandwich between it, with the outermost motor giving enough grunt to function as the car’s only propulsion and the inner electric motor connected to the engine as a generator ala Honda I-MMD. Once the daily driving ends, the gearbox is connected to both motors and engine to deliver driving pleasure. Lexus Multi-Stage Hybrid in the LC/LS500h has a similar setup, going through two gearbox before hitting the wheels.
matte black just suit this car.. handsome car!!
Who cares, it is just a concept
hey i know these type of shifter! just so you know toyota isnt the 1st to implement this. Try and google Alfa romeo Q-System. Its basically an automatic gearbox with a H type pattern shifter for you to select the gear. Very interesting.
Looks like a black blobfish
Looks like a wannabe 2017 concept car, designed in 1987.