Toyota's FT-CH concept aims for '8-bit generation'
Published on Friday, January 15, 2010
2010 DETROIT AUTO SHOW
DETROIT -- Toyota Motor Corp. unveiled a hybrid concept car, the FT-CH, today at the Detroit auto show.
Toyota is going after what it calls the “8-bit generation,” those who grew up playing '80s video game systems such as Nintendo. The style of the FT-CH is meant to reflect the target audience's style and taste.
The interior is simple in its components, compressing the odometer and speedometer in a small digital display that sits atop the steering wheel column.
“When you look at some of the concepts of interior design -- of the electronics, the color palette -- it's fun, it's stylish,” Jim Lentz, COO, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc. said. “And I think that's kind of that retro feel back to the 8-bit generation.”
There is no timetable set for production of the FT-CH, Lentz said.
Toyota's European design and development center in Nice, France, styled the FT-CH. The small size of the car -- 153 inches long and 69 inches wide -- is proportioned to be maneuverable and responsive.
The automaker is showing the car “to see if there's a potential for this type of vehicle to be sold by Toyota,” he said. “There's not an engineer assigned to it. It is truly an exercise as concept right now.”
Lentz also said the vehicle hasn't been tested with customers, so that any talks of production are a “ways off.”
As of yet, there is no set engine size in mind for the concept car that could become part of what Toyota has described as the “Prius family.” It is designed to fit in with the company's expansion of research into electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, fuel cell hybrids and conventional hybrids -- such as the FT-CH.
