Officially, Toyota will tell you that the future is in hybrid powertrains. But unofficially, well, they've built an electric sports car, which was revealed at this year's Tokyo Auto Salon.
Based on the chassis of a Toyota Sera (a rare sports car built from 1990-96), the TES-ERA EV shares that car's gullwing door concept, though the car is altogether more modern looking. While tiny (roughly 10 inches shorter in length than a second generation MR2), it's certainly not cutesy looking thanks to plenty of angles and a wide stance.
A proper rear-drive machine the TES-ERA EV makes roughly 165 hp and produces 247 lb-ft of torque. Weighing in at 2,500 lbs it's not going to be a rocket ship, but should produce some modest smiles.
Built by the Toyota Engineering Society (hence the TES in its name), the car is part of an annual skunkworks project made up of volunteers within the automaker and isn't even technically an official Toyota concept car.
Created in 1947 to explore organic new ideas and actually move ahead with them, last year's TES project car was the TES Concept T-Sports, looking at a baby Scion FR-S.
See videos of the TES-ERA EV in action below:
More:
Toyota Electric Sports Car Concept Revealed [Video] on Autoguide.com
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