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Toyota Mirai Shows Off during WRC Germany, Has Roll Cage and Rally Goodies

Sightings of the Toyota Mirai in Europe have kicked off in an official manner, after the fuel cell electric car competed on the WRC stages in Germany.
Toyota Mirai WRC 5 photos
Photo: WRC
Toyota Mirai WRCToyota Mirai WRCToyota Mirai WRCToyota Mirai WRC
In case you thought a FCEV can't rally, guess again, because with the right mods, the Mirai was able to show what it's capable of. Don't get your hopes up just yet, as Toyota will return to the World Championship in 2017 with a Yaris-based World Rally Car.

So if you're wondering what the Mirai is doing on European rally courses, here's the answer: the Japanese manufacturer is in Trier, Germany to showcase its latest emission-free production car scheduled to go on sale in selected European markets like the UK, Germany and Denmark.

The Mirai was the "zero car" that precedes the competition racers along the stages and behind the wheel sat its Japanese owner Mitsuhiro Kunisawa.

But even if the Mirai wasn't actually part of the race, it didn't manage to escape the necessary rally-bound treatment. We know, seeing a roll cage, special brake pads and competition tires on an electric vehicle is not a common sight. But considering how the automotive world is evolving, we could see PHEV or EV race cars making their way into more and more competitions in the future.

Coming back to the Mirai and Toyota's WRC plans for the future, here's what Mirai's chief engineer, Yoshikazu Tanaka, had to say about the brand's next goals and how the racing stage will look like not many years from now:

“It is our dream that one day our fuel cell vehicles will be able to compete in WRC. Therefore, we will continue to develop this technology with great ambition," he said. "Spectators at the Rallye Deutschland will have to get used to this noiseless premiere at Trier, but they’ll experience the art of an almost pollution-free future.”
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