A newly revealed idea automotive constructed atop the Toyota 86 platform has us lamenting the truth that it was by no means constructed. Referred to as the Toyota X86D idea, it was designed at Toyota’s Calty studio in Southern California in 2012 however was stored below wraps for over a decade.
Again in 2012, there was a lot buzz surrounding what was then known as the Scion FR-S. The nimble and reasonably priced rear-wheel-drive coupe was a breath of recent air in a market that hadn’t seen a number of exercise within the sports activities automotive class. Toyota thought of methods it might develop that platform to different physique types, together with what it describes as a “four-door shooting brake.” That really sounds quite a bit like a plain ol’ wagon, however we get it; the (vastly faulty) standard knowledge says that wagons aren’t cool.
Nonetheless, a compact wagon the scale of an FR-S sounds immensely cool. Toyota’s description of the X86D even says an all-wheel-drive drivetrain was a part of the plan. AWD or not, it could have benefited from the well-balanced front-engined, rear-drive-biased structure of the 86, in addition to its low-profile flat-four engine.
The idea made it to the full-size mannequin stage, which isn’t insignificant. Meaning it handed the 2D paper or digital illustration and 1:4 scale mannequin phases. The look deviates fairly considerably from the FR-S, with a dramatically curved rear window on the hatch.
The X86D was designed at Calty, which Toyota based in 1973. These days practically each main automaker has a studio in Southern California, however Toyota’s was the primary, based to review drivers’ habits within the American (or, arguably, world) coronary heart of automotive tradition. Manufacturing vehicles which have emerged from Calty embrace the 1979 Celica, the gorgeous Lexus SC, and the 2024 Tacoma.
The Scion FR-S was subsequently renamed the 86 when the Scion model was killed off, after which renamed the GR86 for the present technology. Whereas the numerous curves of the X86D would have seemingly been toned down for manufacturing, it is nonetheless an incredible concept. Even when designers stored a lot of the FR-S’s traces and simply grafted the hatch onto it, we’d have been eagerly lining up for a compact sportwagon. Alas, we have been by no means on condition that probability.