The mid mounted 5L (310cuin) engine was similar to the Toyota 7 engine except that EX-7 did not have turbochargers. The Toyota 7 had 800bhp (600kW) but the EX-7 was detuned down to 450PS (330kW) for road use.[1] Transmission was by a manual gearbox as part of a transaxle.[1]
Double wishbone independent suspension was on all 4 wheels and vented disc brakes were used on both the front and rear.[1]
The body shape was similar to that of other supercars of the time, like the Mercedes C111, with a long flat nose blended into a long windscreen and a high rear with a vertical cutoff.[1] The doors were shaped like a typical gull-wing door but unusually the hinge was at the rear of the roof section of the door and each door opened to the rear.[1][2]
Shown at the Tokyo Motor Show in October–November 1971, the SV-1 was the prototype for the Celicaliftback released in April 1973.
The prototype was built on a TA22 GT chassis with frame number TA22-026004. This was originally built in May 1971 as a Celica TA22 GT coupe. The mechanicals of the TA22 GT were retained (1600cc 2T-G twincam engine).
The front of the interior was the same as the TA22 GT except for a different fabric pattern on the seats. Electric window lifts were used (optional but rare on the TA22 GT) but the TA22 GT's optional air conditioning was not present.
The rear 2 seats were individually reclining using the same reclining hinges and latches as the front seats except that the rear latches were in the middle. A centre padded vinyl console was between the 2 rear seats and the seat belts clipped into it when not in use. The spare tyre sat vertically at the very rear of the cargo area under a vinyl cover.
The SV-1 had a rear fuel filler similar to the early coupes. Toyota changed all Celicas to side fuel fillers in mid 1972, so from the RA28 all production liftbacks had fuel fillers on the left rear quarter panel with a cover flap. The RA25 and TA27 were the first production liftbacks and their fuel fillers were in the centre rear of the vehicle, behind a pulled down panel.
The SV-1 rear hatch glass was a bit larger than the production version. The key hole for the hatch was on the beaver panel (it was on the hatch on production liftbacks). The grill was an ST type – just like all 1973–1975 production liftbacks (even the GT models). Dual exhaust tips exited out the rear (production Celicas had a single exhaust tip). An electric aerial was put in the left rear quarter (the TA22 had this on the left front wheel guard).
The RV-1 (a prototype 2 door wagon based on the Celica coupe) with the Marinetta boat and trailer was also shown at the 1971 Tokyo Motor show but did not reach production.
The bottom half was a conventional single axle small trailer made from fibreglass. For the exhibit, it was shown with one inflatable tent next to it and another tent packed inside. The top half of the trailer was a small boat mounted upside-down, with the bottom half of the trailer matching the boat shape along their joining edges. The boat used an outboard motor that could be disconnected and stowed in the bottom half when the halves were reassembled for towing. The exterior was painted white with a black stripe and the interior was painted bright orange.
A jet ski and its trailer were also shown alongside the Marinetta at the show stand.
The front had vertical corners instead of the normal Celica's sloping park lights (indicator lights in some markets). The bonnet was also extended forward to match. An unusual grill was used featuring large round holes instead of the more common slats or hexagonal holes.
The front windows and the doors remained the same as the Celica but the roof line was extended to cover the rear passenger seats and then continued as a thin spine to the rear of the car.[3] On each side of the spine a centre hinged gull wing window completed the roof and continued down to the waistline. A large integral roll bar completed the rear and also held up the rear of the roof spine. The tail lights and rear indicators shown through many small round holes in the rear face of the bodywork. Unusually for Celicas, the rear bumper had cut-outs to house red reflectors and reversing lights. A 1 metre wide tail gate with a frameless wind-down window occupied the centre of the rear. The centre section of the bumper moved with the tail gate instead of being fixed directly to the body.
A tow bar was fitted so that it could be shown with the Marinetta.
The RV-1 was designed a part of a recreational vehicle system that included the RV-1 car, the Marinetta trailer (which included a fibreglassdinghy), a 5-person inflatable tent and a jet ski on its own trailer.[4]
The SV-1 Celica liftback prototype was also shown at the same time at the 1971 Tokyo Motor Show. The RV-1 never went into production but the SV-1 did.
MH20 (1972)
The Toyota MH20 is a concept car introduced in 1972, at the 19th Tokyo Motor Show. It is a motor home, based on a small bus.[5]
MP20 (1972)
The Toyota MP20 is a multi-purpose vehicle based on a small bus.[5]
Styling was up-to-date with sharply formed edges and large rectangular headlights. The front bumper covered only the corners, allowing the grill to be much more prominent than normal. The roof line terminated behind the large door on each side. Above the rear waistline were a pair of side hinged clam shell doors covering the entire rear section. An integrated roll bar terminated the body work and also formed a place for the clam shell doors to seal. The clam shell doors met each in the middle of the roof with no centre support. When the doors were raised you could stretch a tent between them. Two adults could sleep in the tent section and another two adults could sleep on the front seats, which could fold down flat. Finally, the rear section included a full width tail gate with a wind-down window nestled under the rear roll bar.
Larger than the 1971 RV-1, some sources say the RV-2 was based on the Mark II[10] while others say it was based on the Crown.[1] Both the Mark II and the Crown shared major mechanical parts with the RV-2 (4M engine, transmission, suspension), so either could be true. The RV-2 uses wheels with 5 studs, just like the Crown and unlike the 4 stud Mark II wheels but these parts are easy to swap between the cars. The 2600 cc 4M engine was uprated to include SU carburettors to give 190km/h.
A fully working prototype in RHD was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show and reviewed in the August 1973 issue of Penthouse magazine. [11] Toyota also printed a large number of a brochure for the USA market in order to gauge the market reaction. [12] It was generally well received but apparently not enough to put it into production. The brochure included sketches with the steering wheel clearly shown on the left hand side but the photographs of the real vehicle hid the steering wheel – which was on the right hand side.[12]
The ESV was a 2-door, 2-seater concept car built to conform to the Japanese government's Experimental Safety Vehicle specifications and shown during the 1972 Tokyo Motor Show.[1] Weight had to be under 1,150kg (2,535lb) and prevent serious injury in a crash with a 1,814kg (4,000lb) vehicle at 80km/h (50mph). In order to provide adequate crumple zones while remaining within the size given by the government specifications, Toyota was forced to make the car a 2-seater. The vehicle at the show was the second ESV made. Unique alloy wheels were used.
The Toyota Town Spider System is a concept vehicle made by Toyota in 1973. It was shown at the Tokyo Motor Show.[13] The Town Spider System is a part of Toyota's MAC (Multi-functional Automobile Communication) project. The car gives the driver information about traffic and weather, and can alert the driver of road detours and car accidents. It included a telephone, which, at the time, was an item for the rich.
The ESV was a 2-door, 2-seater concept car built to conform to the Japanese government's Experimental Safety Vehicle specifications and shown during the 1973 Tokyo Motor Show.[1] The ESV was the 100th and final vehicle produced by Toyota under the ESV program. It was mostly similar to the ESV-2 except the ESV had larger, plastic bumpers and slight differences in the trim.
Safety features included 4-wheel anti-skid brakes, 4-beam headlights, air bags, silicone rubber front bumper mounted on internal shock absorbers and crumple zones.[14] The front suspension used double wishbones. [1]
ESV
EV2 (1973)
The EV2 was a concept vehicle created by Toyota in 1973. It is a small, electric vehicle and was introduced at the 1973 Tokyo Motor Show.
The Toyota F101 (later called F110 in 1977 and F120 in 1981) was a concept car introduced in 1973. The car, a wagon-type sedan, was shown at the 1971 Tokyo Motor Show. The gull-wing doors of the car caught people's attention. Toyota displayed the F101 concept, and promoted it as "the sedan of the future." With only 97 horsepower, the F101 used the same 2-liter engine found in the 1974 Corona. The oriental prototype featured four-wheel disc brakes and a fully independent suspension. The F101 became a prequel to the second generation Toyota Celica. By that time, the first generation Celica had already been produced for two years and sold well. The F101 was built for maximum efficiency. The body of the concept, blown in a wind tunnel, fully met the challenges of the time and worked for fuel efficiency. At the same time, the outlines of the car, combining straight lines with roundness, as well as possible fell into the trends of future years.[15]
The Marinetta 10 was a concept trailer made by Toyota and shown during the 1973 Tokyo Motor Show behind a Corona hardtop in a beach setting, complete with beach sand and palm trees.[1]
The 1973 versions was very similar to the 1971 Marinetta. The fibreglass exteriors were unchanged but the bottom half was changed internally to be similar to a pop-up caravan. Once the boat half was removed, beds could be folded out to the left and right sides and a fold-out frame raised complete with a fabric covering. With the total trailer weighing 300kg (661lb), hydraulic brakes were used powered by the trailers own inertia when the tow car decelerates. The exterior was painted white with an orange stripe along the top of the boat and 'Marinetta 10' in white lettering inside the stripe (which would be upside-down and underwater when the boat is in use)
Marine Cruiser (1973)
The Toyota Marine Cruiser truck was a concept seen at the 1973 Tokyo Motor Show. It includes water resistant seats, two radios, protective headlights, additional optics, heavy winch, cover for spare wheel, aluminum safety cage, and a mounted spotlight-seeker, and an interior wood trimmed as used for fishing boats. Under the hood was mounted 4-cyl diesel B-series engine.[16]
A GT45 gas turbine engine was mounted in a Toyota Century, one of the few Toyotas with an engine bay big enough. The engine was connected to an electrical generator connected to 20 batteries of 12 V each, which then drove two electric motors, one motor for the front left wheel and the second motor for the right front wheel.[1] Using kerosene, 160km/h (99mph) could be reached and 120km/h (75mph) could be reached using the batteries alone.
The Century was first trialled in this manner in 1971 but not shown to the public until 1975. A similar system was trialled from 1971 on some Toyota buses.
Another version of the engine was shown at the 1977 Tokyo Motor Show (GT24),[18] at the 1979 Tokyo Motor Show (in the Sports 800 Gas Turbine Hybrid) and another at the 1985 Tokyo Motor Show (Gas Turbine II in the Toyota GTV).[19]
The Toyota MP–1 (Multi–Purpose wagon) was a concept vehicle for a multi–purpose vehicle produced by Toyota and first shown at the 1975 Tokyo Motor Show. This van was unusual in being based on the Crown passenger car chassis instead of a commercial vehicle chassis.[20]Tomica made a limited edition scale model of the MP–1.[21]
Externally, the MP–1 resembles a van with a sharply sloped bonnet. The two front doors are normal hinged doors but the rear–most of the side doors slide backwards along rails. The entire rear of the MP–1 is a top hinged rear door. The passenger side sliding door also incorporated a lifting step to allow wheelchair access.[22]
Internally, the front passenger can turn 360 degrees and the rear bench seat can be tipped 90 degrees to face forwards or backwards. A sunroof and refrigerator were included.[23]
The MP–1 was meant to be FWD but time pressures forced Toyota to re–use the six–cylinder engine and RWD drive train from the Crown.[23]
The CAL-1, Supra and the new generation of Celica were all designed at Calty, Toyota's California design studio. Even though the CAL-1 was designed in California, it was right hand drive and had Japanese front mounted mirrors.
The rear decking opened into a pair of rear seats and the rear window opened into a wind deflector for the rear passengers. Further portions of the rear decking could be removed to make it into a pickup.
Experimental Aluminum Car (1977)
The Experimental Aluminum Car is a concept car made by Toyota in 1977. Toyota used Aluminium for the entire body of the car. The result of using this lightweight material allowed the weight reduction to improved efficiency. The car was powered by a 547cc engine and weighed only 450kg.[25]
The Sports 800 Gas Turbine Hybrid was a concept vehicle based on the Toyota Sports 800, fitted with a gas turbine engine and first shown at the 1979 Tokyo Motor Show.[1] The 30bhp (22kW) gas turbine engine was connected to a generator, which fed an electric motor connected to a 2 speed gearbox.[1]
This vehicle was shown again in the nostalgia section of the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show. Minor changes had been made to it: the red roof had been changed to black, the black side mirrors had been changed to red, a large bonnet scoop had been added and the plain steel wheels had been replaced with alloy wheels.[26] For unknown reasons, the placard next to the vehicle said that the vehicle had originally been shown at the 1977 Tokyo Motor Show instead of the 1979 show.[27]
The CX-80 (also known as the FCX-80) was a concept vehicle built by Toyota and shown at the October 1979 Tokyo Motor Show.[28] It was designed to be an experimental city car for the future that would save fuel by being light and compact. The bonnet sloped sharply, with a pod in the middle for the headlights. Front wheel drive was used, leaving the cabin floor flat and the cabin spacious. The side windows were mounted high on the waistline but this was offset by having transparent cut-outs in the body's side panels.
The Family Wagon was a concept vehicle built by Toyota based on the Liteace and shown at the October 1979 Tokyo Motor Show.[28] It had three rows of seats, with the two seats in the second row able to swivel 180 degrees or to fold flat to form a continuous surface with one of the two seats in the third row. A small table was placed between the rightmost seats of the second and third rows. A rear-facing television was mounted in the roof just behind the front row of seats.
Hilux RM-4D (1979)
The Toyota Hilux RM-4D was a concept version of the Toyota Hilux made in 1979. It was a special exhibit made exclusively for the 1979 Tokyo Motor Show. It was not planned to make production.[29]
The Toyota Celica is an automobile produced by Toyota from 1970 until 2006. The Celica name derives from the Latin word coelica meaning heavenly or celestial. In Japan, the Celica was exclusive to Toyota Corolla Store dealer chain. Produced across seven generations, the Celica was powered by various four-cylinder engines, and body styles included convertibles, liftbacks, coupés and notchback coupés.
A hatchback is a car body configuration with a rear door that swings upward to provide access to the main interior of the car as a cargo area rather than just to a separated trunk. Hatchbacks may feature fold-down second-row seating, where the interior can be reconfigured to prioritize passenger or cargo volume.
The Ford Probe is a liftback coupé produced by Ford, introduced in 1988 and produced until 1997. The Probe was the result of Ford's collaboration with its longtime Japanese partner Mazda, and both generations of Probe were derived from the front-wheel drive Mazda G platform that underpinned the Mazda Capella.
The AE86 series of the Toyota Corolla Levin and Toyota Sprinter Trueno are small, front-engine/rear-wheel-drive models within the front-engine/front-wheel-drive fifth generation Corolla (E80) range—marketed by Toyota from 1983 to 1987 in coupé and liftback configurations.
The Toyota Corona is an automobile manufactured by the Japanese automaker Toyota across eleven generations between 1957 and 2001. On launch, the Corona was Toyota's second-highest product in their range, just below the Crown. The Corona was marketed in the JDM at Toyota's Toyopet Store dealership channels, and the Corona was one of Toyota's first models exported to other global markets, followed by the smaller Toyota Corolla.
A liftback is a variation of a hatchback car body style, with a more gently sloping roofline, roughly between 45 and 10 degrees, whereas traditional or archetypal hatchback designs tend to use a 45 degree to near vertical slope on the top-hinged tailgate.
The Toyota Sprinter is a compact car manufactured by Toyota as a variant of the Toyota Corolla. Exclusively sold in the Japanese domestic market, the Sprinter was aimed to be sportier than its Corolla sibling and also using different sheet metal mostly on the C-pillar. The Sprinter and various body styles were exclusive to Toyota Auto Store until 1977 when the Toyota Chaser took the top position. The Corolla is similarly unique to Toyota Corolla Store until the Toyota Celica was offered in 1970, which took the top position. In 1998 Toyota Auto Store and Toyota Vista Store were both replaced by Netz Store.
The Toyota Century is a lineup of full-size luxury cars and limousines produced mainly for the Japanese market, serving as Toyota's flagship car within Japan; globally the unrelated Lexus LS series is Toyota's flagship luxury model. Production of the Century began in 1967, and the model received only minor changes until redesigns in 1997 and 2018.
The Toyota Carina is an automobile which was manufactured by Toyota from December 1970 to December 2001. It was introduced as a sedan counterpart of the Celica, with which it originally shared a platform. Later, it was realigned to the Corona platform, but retained its performance image, with distinctive bodywork and interior — aimed at the youth market and remaining exclusive to Japanese Toyota dealerships Toyota Store. It was replaced in Japan by the Toyota Allion in 2001 and succeeded in Europe by the Toyota Avensis.
The Japan Mobility Show (ジャパンモビリティショー), called Tokyo Motor Show (東京モーターショー) (TMS) until 2019, is a biennial auto show held in October–November at the Tokyo Big Sight, Tokyo, Japan for cars, motorcycles and commercial vehicles. Hosted by the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), it is a recognized international show by the Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles, and normally sees more concept cars than actual production car introductions, which is the reason why the automotive press sees the show as one of the motorshow's big five.
The Lexus LF line is a series of concept cars built by Lexus, the luxury vehicle division of Toyota Motor Corporation. The "LF" designation refers to Lexus Future. The LF Series vehicles features coupes/convertibles, including: the LF-A, the LF-A Roadster, LF-LC, LF-CC, and the LF-C; sedans: the LF-S, LF-Sh, and LF-Gh; crossover SUVs: the LF-X and LF-Xh; and hatchbacks: the LF-Ch. The first concept vehicle of the LF Series, the LF-X, appeared in 2003. The LF Series utilizes L-finesse, a design philosophy named for "Leading Edge" and "finesse", which debuted on the LF Series concepts and later extended to all new production Lexus vehicles. New vehicle technologies on the LF Series include advanced instrumentation, multiple driver-selected vehicle configurations, hybrid and experimental powertrains, and unconventional driver interface designs. The vehicles also feature new design cues which derive from the L-finesse design language of "Intriguing Elegance" (純), "Incisive Simplicity" (妙), and "Seamless Anticipation" (予). Several of the LF concept vehicles have appeared close to their production counterparts, while the design cues of other LF concepts appeared on more distinctly different production vehicles.
The AE85 series of the Toyota Corolla Levin and Toyota Sprinter Trueno are small, front-engine/rear-wheel-drive compact cars within the front-engine/front-wheel-drive fifth-generation Corolla (E80) range —manufactured by Toyota from 1983 to 1987 in coupé and liftback configurations.
The Toyota Celica GT-Four is a high performance model of the Celica Liftback that was produced from 1986 to 1999, with a turbocharged 3S-GTE engine, and full-time AWD. It was created to compete in the World Rally Championship, whose regulations dictate that a manufacturer must build road-going versions of the vehicle in sufficient numbers. These vehicles are referred to as "homologation special vehicles".
The Corolla E70 was the fourth generation of cars sold by Toyota under the Corolla nameplate.
The Toyota Corolla E80 is a range of small automobiles manufactured and marketed by Toyota from 1983 to 1987 as the fifth generation of cars under the Corolla and Toyota Sprinter nameplates. Production totalled approximately 3.3 million, and most models adopted a front-wheel drive layout.
Toyota concept vehicles produced between 1935 and 1969 include:
Toyota Concept Vehicles produced between 1980 and 1989 include:
Toyota Concept Vehicles produced between 1990 and 1999 include:
Toyota concept vehicles are transportation devices manufactured or designed by automobile company Toyota from 2000 to 2009. As their name suggests, these vehicles were concepts, and, as such, many were never released to dealerships. Many were developed in conjunction with other corporations such as Sony or Subaru.
Toyota Concept Vehicles produced between 2010 and 2019 include:
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ESV
