Toyota's
FT-EV concept was tiny, quirky, electric powered -- and honestly a bit predictable. Its successor, the FT-EV II, takes that staid design and sends it way out there, leaving the exterior unchanged (some gold detailing adds a touch of flash) but dialing up the intrigue on the inside. The traditional wheel and pedal controls have been replaced by a gilded mechanical joystick contraption that would look appropriate on a Victorian-era rocket ship (had any such thing actually existed) leaving more legroom and what looks to be a more ergonomic driving experience. It's a control scheme the company used previously on its
i-Real concept... chair... thing, but this is the first Toyota with doors to rock it. Will those sticks and all that brushed metal and faux-ivory still be there when this car releases? Not a chance, sadly.
posted Oct 22nd 2009 8:45AM
This is just gorgeous!
I guess it may not be crashworthy, but surely something like this could be done. People would pay good money for this kind of thing.
Sure Toyota doesn't seem to have a problem getting people to buy their stuff, but why can't GM or KIA do something like this? Is it really that hard to see what makes a car cool?
This is a concept vehicle, and they always have features far different from production vehicles; more often than not, the whole car won't see production, but rather its features will be adapted to other cars. GM, Ford, Chrysler, KIA, Hyundai, etc. etc. etc. - they all do this. So it's not just Toyota, but rather an industrywide concept.
That being said, this is a nice, if impractical touch. I read something a few years back in which they said drivers had better control of the car if it were operated with an aircraft-style yoke rather than the traditional steering wheel, so that may be the future of vehicles. Unfortunately, I can't see how they can shove an airbag in that, as it seems too fragile.
Airbags would most likely be something like the side curtain type now in card. The main purpose of a driver's side airbag is to keep you head from impacting the steering wheel. With no wheel there there's really no need for it. Your belt really should keep you from hitting the dash/windshield.
I forsee a patent war with bicycle makers, since this is an awful lot like a bicycle handlebar
"I forsee a patent war with bicycle makers, since this is an awful lot like a bicycle handlebar"
I'm pretty sure the handlebar patent has long expired.
I'd be afraid to touch the controls, but then I'd get over myself and grab on with both hands.
I was using a joke to highlight the similarity, I'm not saying SCO bought the handlebar patent yet to re-apply it (that's another joke.. I hope)
Strikes me as funny that people are all awed by a bicycle handlebar because they don't recognize it in a car basically.
That is really cool. Looks like it was taken from Treasure Island :D
I love steampunk. Would totally love one of these to roll up to comic-con with my lady all decked out in steampunk-wear.
I can't believe something this awesome is coming from Toyota.
Toyota gets 1 million cool points if anything like this moves to production.
I wouldn't exactly call that steampunk... i'm not sure what i would call it but it's not steampunk. Someone from the Victorian era would think they just stepped 100 years into the future looking at that!
Looks to me like a variation on 50's retrofuture/spaceage.
where is the airbag?
you dont need an airbag, it saves you with dreams.
It might be in the golden bulbous thing between the joysticks... Yanno, if this had one anyway.
Ming is in big trouble when Buck and Dale attack in this one...
Is that a modded PSP Go to the left...under...a...toilet paper roller?
I thought that was the half-calf, triple shot, grande, double chocolate mocha holder.
It annoys me that they didn't even make a real mock-up, it's a stupid render, a poor effort I call that, and no nothing of this will ever reach any production, it's just to get mentioned on sites like this and get their name mentioned.
You got it, those small time companies like Toyota are just begging for blogs to put them in the limelight for once...
And this shot is a render too?
http://www.easycarblog.com/wp-content/gallery/06_october_2009-toyota-ft-ev-ii/toyota-ft-ev-ii-9.jpg
Does look totally impractical to remove the interior in lieu of this though. Where will the yuppies set their lattes? Oh of what of us poor stick shift people?
Yeah nothing can go wrong with car companies right? They need no advertisement, who ever heard of a car company advertising? Are you kidding? Never happens.
Thanks for your input, I feel so corrected.
Oh and yes I think that's a render too.
The car is being shown at the Tokyo Motor show, so it is not just a render.
It looks like the interior was designed by HG Wells. It is very Time Machine-inspired on those controls. Like it.
I guess just about any design that's different from currently popular aesthetics can be called steampunk, now?
I think the definition of steampunk can now include "anything with brass or brass-like trim"
Or, you know, something that does in fact show traits of steampunk, as this undoubtedly does I.M.O. It's not simply the brass and wood, either; the curvature of the whole assembly does call to mind Wells' time machine.
This won't pass inspections.
I guess those orange "sacs" could inflate like an airbag.
Now, where do I plug in my 360 controller?
this goes to show you that if you want it done right you must do it yourself,, renaissance ppl I know you're out there reading this and thinking the same thing I am. and Im not gonna spend my hard earned cash on something I do not like anymore just because it is not being built by BIG MOTORS. I have the time, resources and the spirit to do it myself.
Be seeing you.
WTF was that about?
Holy psychopathic angst, Batman!
That's not actually a joystick. It just looks like a weird steering wheel design (rotate to turn) with some handles in the interior that you tilt for throttle/braking, like an aircraft yoke not a joystick. Or like a handicapped equipped vehicle.
How does this actually work?
I think you have the basic idea down, now all you have to do is explain it to the DOT....
Very slick, I love innovative designs.
That chrome control column will look SWEET sticking out of your chest after a front-end collision!
Ha!, hell ya! Well, some sweet designs just aren't safe are they? ;)
The auto industry continues to tease me with designs I love which will never in a million years see release. How can an industry so clearly capable of wonderful and envelope-pushing design continue to bring such mundane products to market?
So unfortunate that they make the cockpit look this good, and yet the outside is ass-ugly, even for an EV.
Where is IT, how fast can IT go, how much will IT cost and where can i buy IT?
Reinventing the (steering) wheel.
This is the wost of the worst, Impale-O-Matic design,
and when power is lost, you lose the steering.
All this crap is getting more complex, more expensive, stupider. What is needed is the opposite, a revisited
Model T, Deuxchevau or Bug idea, simple, unbreakable basic mechanicals,
inexpensive design, execution, ownership and repair.
Offers the people can't refuse are what will replace the fleet. Reliable decent transportation for 10-20K$.
$40,000 c Volts, and overpriced boutique Teslas, and head up your ass thinking and design like this idiocy are not going to cut it.
I was just about to ask how many hours surgery would be needed to remove all that metal from you after an accident? Of course that's if you survived.
However, maybe they could make it out of some kind of collapsible chromed plastic to keep the look, yet make it survivable. It certainly looks great!
A head-on collition in something like that would kill you James Dean-style.
That's not steampunk. It has more in common with Big O than anything Victorian.
Only the Japanese with legal whalehunting can do true steampunk, with real ivory...
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