Toyota FT-86 Concept - additional details

So we have all seen and read about the FT-86 Concept, a spiritual successor of the legendary AE86 Corolla Sprinter / Truneo / Levin. Below are additional info we manage to compile from the various sources.

The unofficial understanding is that the car will be launched in 2011, but there is still no word on what nameplate will the car wear. Current speculation is that the long defunct Celica badge could be revived. In its better days, the Celica was a highly sought after driver's car and boasted many World Rally Championship victories as part of its heritage. The last iteration of the Celica was taken on an entirely different path, was nothing other than a purely marketing driven exercise. It was sad to see the last generation Celica being drastically dumbed down to become nothing more than a Corolla clothed in a fancy body. In the USA, the FT-86 Concept could be sold as a Scion tC replacement instead. No word yet on the Subaru badged iteration.

Subaru's new generation boxer engine that powers the FT-86 could spawn into both a naturally aspirated and a turbo charged variant over time. Expect this to happen during its mid life cycle model update (minor change in Japanese auto industry lingo). Also, did you know that the reason Subaru's boxer engine was opted is not only due to Toyota holding 16.5% of Subaru, but also because using a boxer engine is the only way the FT-86's can maintain its sleek design while maintaining compliance to rigid pedestrian crash safety regulation. In order to meet today's strict European pedestrian crash standards, it is estimated that a car must have at least 7cm space between the bonnet and the engine block. Without having a low mounted engine block, there is no way Toyota could maintain the coupe-like silhouette of the FT-86. It would probably look like a short tail two door car with a "dugong" like front.

A convertible version could also be released later in its model life, primarily for the North American market.

Introduction of the FT-86 under the Subaru brand is a bit unclear, although the car will be built by Subaru. In many countries, Subaru have always potrayed themselves as an AWD evangelist. It's a bit like BMW will never do anything front wheel drive (we consider the MINI as a separate brand). BMW had to stick to RWD even for its 1-series, despite the obvious lack of objective advantage in fitting RWD on a small hatchback. For Subaru to suddenly introduce a RWD model into their model line up would contradict their AWD only philosophy. So unless an AWD version of the FT-86 will be made, it will be sold in very limited numbers as a Subaru, to a very limited number of markets only - namely those that sell the 2WD versions of the Impreza. I can't name any but I am sure there are some. Do you know which market have 2WD Subarus? I have seen some 2WD Imprezas in Singapore classifieds but am not sure if they are grey imported versions.

Souped up TRD versions of the FT-86, though not confirmed, have never been ruled out by chief engineer Tetsuya Tada.

The FT-86 is the first model jointly developed between Toyota and Subaru, but certainly not the only one. Both companies are also working together on a compact city EV.