At
the North American International Auto
Show in Detroit, Toyota of Japan
revealed a stunning FT-1 sports car
concept. First devised by Calty
Design Research in the Sony PlayStation
Gran Turismo game environment, FT-1 leapt from the screen to the stage in a
race-inspired press conference at COBO Hall.
FT-1
stands for “Future Toyota,” and the number “1” represents the ultimate.
According to its designers at Calty Design Research, the FT-1 Concept is the
ultimate expression of a Toyota coupe design, building upon Toyota’s rich
sports coupe heritage dating back to the 2000GT, Celica, Supra, MR2 and most
recently Scion FR-S. In addition, the concept draws inspiration from Calty’s
more recent sports car concept work such as FT-HS (2007) and the Lexus
LF-LC (2012).
The
project started nearly two years ago and represents a labour of love by the Calty
design team. “The FT-1 is a dream-project for a designer and car enthusiast
like myself,” said Alex Shen, Calty’s Studio Chief Designer. “Our team was
heavily influenced by Toyota’s sports
car past, especially Celica and Supra, and we sought to capture some of
that history. It is an aggressive,
track-focused sports car concept with a presence that has been amplified for
shock and awe.”
The
FT-1’s audacious design represents the pinnacle of Calty’s 40th year of
operation. Guided by the Toyota design ethos of Vibrant Clarity, a unique
fusion of both emotional and rational factors that delivers a more exciting and
dramatic design expression with unique Toyota identity, the concept is a
spiritual pace car for Toyota Global
Design. The goal of this ideological shift is to develop future generations
of products that better connect emotionally with Toyota’s global consumer base.