Photo: Toyota
First, there was the cool-looking FT-4X, which proposed a smaller and more urban-minded take on the now-defunct FJ Cruiser. Then the TJ Cruiser took the crossover concept game into a minivan-like direction, after which Toyota took the veils off the FT-AC. From April to date, the Japanese automaker revealed three concepts molded from the same clay, and that’s not a coincidence.
Motor Authority has the low-down on the matter, having talked with Toyota Motor North America general manager Jack Hollis on the sidelines of the 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show. According to him, “it's like the '90s again, we can have more than one vehicle in each segment if they are different enough.”
The question is, why? Doesn’t Toyota have a lot of utility vehicles in its lineup? It does, ranging from the subcompact C-HR to the RAV4, 4Runner, Highlander, Sequoia, and Land Cruiser family. The concepts mentioned earlier are subcompact/compact in size, with Hollis claiming that Toyota made them to “test the waters in the market and get feedback from consumers.” What that means is, the underpinnings are readily available, but the design of the upcoming model hasn’t been agreed upon. At least not for the time being.
Likely to ride on the GA-C version of the Toyota New Global Architecture, the newcomer would come in the form of a unibody with powertrains sourced from the likes of the C-HR, Auris/Corolla, and Prius, including the hybrid stuff. Supposedly smaller than the RAV4 and front-wheel-drive by nature, the yet-unnamed model has been confirmed by Hollis to get AWD as an option.
The Toyota official mentioned that the subcompact crossover “should hit the market in the next two to three years [2020], and given the market position, it could start at less than $20,000.” Competition is already fierce in this segment in the United States, so here’s hope Toyota has something truly special in the pipeline. With FT-4X (pictured) styling, pretty please!
The question is, why? Doesn’t Toyota have a lot of utility vehicles in its lineup? It does, ranging from the subcompact C-HR to the RAV4, 4Runner, Highlander, Sequoia, and Land Cruiser family. The concepts mentioned earlier are subcompact/compact in size, with Hollis claiming that Toyota made them to “test the waters in the market and get feedback from consumers.” What that means is, the underpinnings are readily available, but the design of the upcoming model hasn’t been agreed upon. At least not for the time being.
Likely to ride on the GA-C version of the Toyota New Global Architecture, the newcomer would come in the form of a unibody with powertrains sourced from the likes of the C-HR, Auris/Corolla, and Prius, including the hybrid stuff. Supposedly smaller than the RAV4 and front-wheel-drive by nature, the yet-unnamed model has been confirmed by Hollis to get AWD as an option.
The Toyota official mentioned that the subcompact crossover “should hit the market in the next two to three years [2020], and given the market position, it could start at less than $20,000.” Competition is already fierce in this segment in the United States, so here’s hope Toyota has something truly special in the pipeline. With FT-4X (pictured) styling, pretty please!
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