Toyota to Revive MR2 as Hybrid Model

[Steve]

Toyota is planning to bring back the MR2 - this according to AutoExpress.

Toyota VP Masatami Takimoto told staff at the U.K. magazine that "We are aware of the fondness with which the MR2 is held in the UK and Europe, and are developing a small hybrid sportscar.

"We have set a tough price point, as it will be easier to sell if it is affordable. It has to be fun to drive, too, which means the hybrid set-up must be different to the Prius’s, with greater responsiveness."

The small sportscar would be in direct competition to the upcoming Honda CR-Z hybrid sportscar.

At this point it is unclear if Toyota's engineers intend on building an entirely new hybrid powerplant or on tweaking the one found in the Prius. Perhaps Toyota might also look at the potential hybrid 1.3-liter four-cylinder engine that could potentially come in the Insight Competitor that we reported on yesterday.

Don't expect any concept vehicles any time soon, however, as Toyota is currently focused on more functional hybrid vehicles that suit a broader population base.

As the artist renderings above suggest, however, Toyota wouldn’t have to look far for design cues for the new MR2, having already created the stunning FT-HS.

More: Toyota to Revive MR2 as Hybrid Model on AutoGuide.com

[Sparkimus]

I'd buy one.

[PhatRoyale]

Yeah, right.... I'll believe it when I see an actual car.

[RningOnFumes]

Always been fond of the MR2. One can only hope....

[Dana_15]

Originally Posted by PhatRoyale

Yeah, right.... I'll believe it when I see an actual car.

Same here.

[Rosko97]

I like the 2001-2005 MR2. And the FT-HS is a stunning concept. Hopefully Toyota can just use that without messing anything up! Id definitely buy one.

[silver04rollas]

Hybrid and sportiness. Yeah right.

Where is the throaty sound and exhaust note???

[Christian87N]

I'd take the FT-HS in a heartbeat, not that rendering that they have. It's not the same. No CF wheels or flying buttresses. or 400hp 3.5 L hybrid.

[84Cressida]

Love the fact that if they actually do build one (doubtful), they only mentioned Europe.

[sdubk]

that rendering looks like ass. hybrid alien weirdo mated with a transformer reject.

[Creeps228]

hybrid and sports car really is the biggest oxymoron. IF they do produce a new MR2, i hope they have a non hybrid version...

[TacoRollaS]

Look more like a revival of the Celica, still can't beleive they canned it.

... black sheep of the family, the MR-2 never truly belonged in Toyota's vehicle line-up.

As it should be, just as the flagship vehicle in Toyota's vehicle line-up should otherwise be the nonexistent Supra, a nonexistent "mid-engined, rear wheel drive, two-seater" (e.g., "MR-2") would otherwise better serve as flagship vehicle for its newfangled, lightweight vehicle division -- Scion.

The next generation MR-2 would make for a far better flagship Scion than it ever did, a hopelessly misplaced, oddball Toyota.


Acknowledged,
~ S a m m y

[MR2Jedi]

If that what the MR2 is headed for, they should call it something else. The Spyder went way off course as it was. It was fun to drive, but seriously underpowered. 140 hp/125ft. lbs tq...phht!Thats what I imagine this new one to be.

I think Creeps228 said it best.

Originally Posted by MR2BAD

If that what the MR2 is headed for, they should call it something else. The Spyder went way off course as it was. It was fun to drive, but seriously underpowered. 140 hp/125ft. lbs tq...phht!Thats what I imagine this new one to be.

I think Creeps228 said it best.

Grinding enamel a number of years, digesting endless number of things Toyota did on the Mk III MR2 variant, which really irritated us...

Playing ball with Ponch and John... Exposed taillights and headlights so gargantuan, the fattest, laziest patrol officer on God's green acre couldn't possibly miss with the Laser, from 600 meters with doughnut in one hand, and a six-pack tummy-full of his favorite beer.

Major oversight: Door-pull on the Mk III is fundamentally flawed... impedes the driver's left leg; impounds the driver's left pared appendage, in the wheel-whel; impossible for the driver to extract his feet from the foot-whel, penultimate to high speed frontal impact (e.g., highest femur rating in the MR-2 family).

Thing that bugged me most about the Mk III MR2 wasn't the big things; it was the little things Toyota did which put me off; put a sour taste in my mouth... Sequential boy-racer six-speed auto-tranny, they engineered the linkage ass-backward: forward pull for downshifts, backward pull for up-shifts... exactly the opposite what it was, on every single Lola or Reynard on the CART-PPG grid.

Why no cruise control with the 5-speed gearbox?

Fiat's transverse mid-engined X-19 was copied, for the MR2 MkI variant; Ferrari's transverse mid-engined 348, their Mk II variant. Key distinction, cheap facsimile of Porsche's Boxster, discernible architectural features inherently prerequisite only to engineering of longitudinally mounted mid-engined vehicles mindlessly imported, combination affected would become redundant, faux stylistic eyesores hallmark to the transversely mid-mounted Mk III MR2 ultimately evolved it up the wrong branch of the decision tree, to become the butt-ugliest bastard of the MR2 family.

Very reason coach builders specify a transversely mounted mid-engined monocoque, would be (1) low polar moment of inertia whilst (2) maintaining practical aspects of production and utility (e.g., minimal adequate space, for cargo), at minimum efficient scale. That the Mk III has absolutely no utility, proved a signal indication the guy who penned the Mk III variant had no regard with respect to intellectualizing any aspect of the evolution of mid-engined vehicles.

A designer merely copying.

Lack for utility the consumer is seasoned to otherwise correlate, with a high horsepower offering; low horsepower, low utility, to offerings inexorably effeminate. Egregious insult to its MR2 fraternity, so little horsepower for the Mk III variant in tandem with scant utility implied, beyond any inkling of doubt, the Mk III was conceived to be specifically intended, for 23 year old girls gone wild.

Not us...

Playing ball with the insurance industry: Lack for performance or utility, paltry 137 horsepower Mk III variant indicative of Toyota saying, "... here you go, Girls; come get your new MR2," guaranteed a gender specific slap in the face for every hairy chested level-5 driver who proudly boasted a heavily modified Mk I or Mk II variant, in their garage.

Clumsy aloof Toyota wonders why everyone in sports car culture harbors ever increasing contempt toward them? In spite of the 1.5 billion bux it pisses away every two years, on Formula 1, care to know why FiA's race stewards tee-off so eagerly, unremorselessly on Toyota, with penalties every which way from Sunday, every single chance they get? NASCAR -- likewise?

Care to know why Toyota is so unloved in motorsport, everywhere they go?

It is not what they do, on-track, so much as is, what Toyota ultimately doesn't do with their motorsport -- off-track. Why even be in Formula 1, laden corporation executives and mid-level enterprise managers who fundamentally disdain high performance automobiles? Why even be in NASCAR, when the very thing they fundamentally disdain is high displacement powerplants, in their production sedans?

Playing ball with everyone but us, nobody ever bothered admonish Toyota, during its formative years, to "dance with the ones who brung ya."

Humblemost apologies... call 'um like I see 'um: Outside-looking-in, even the most unseasoned of Toyota watchers would inevitably have no choice but concede the point, senior Toyota designers are likely yes-men, little clout, heavily rewarded for loyalty and observance of prescribed doctrine at the expense of fundamental scholastic automotive design principle. Transitive preference logic strongly implies Toyota likely constitutes an awful, bleak, frustrating, inhospitable environment for creative, independently minded people.

Antithesis of the very mentality prerequisite to success, in Formula 1...

The very people despised most in motorsport, Toyota has evolved to become an otherwise wonderful place to work for yes-men, dittoheads, copycats and intellectual frauds whom have no compunction whatsoever copying their contemporaries; sinning on their science.

I would highly recommend Toyota senior staff, with utmost impunity, toss that MR2 Mk III designer under the bus... take their generation four MR2 as seriously as they once did, my Supercharged MR2 of yore (e.g., a pure performance mid-engined hybrid; world's first driver discretion steering wheel activated KERS).

I don't see a significant, universally acclaimed, noteworthy MR2 in Toyota's future. Yet another whimsical, silly, faux MR2 I do -- Scion's.



Acknowledged,
~ Sammy