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Peter Lyon22 Aug 2015
NEWS

TOKYO MOTOR SHOW: Toyota Small FR Concept

Japanese giant readying compact rear-drive coupe for Tokyo show in October

Toyota will lead a Japanese brand renaissance at this year's Tokyo motor show in October when it reveals a number of new hybrids, fuel cell concepts, people-movers and – most significantly for car enthusiasts – the Small FR Concept.

FR is Japan-speak for 'front-engine, rear-drive' and the coupe it refers to is an all-new compact two-door being developed by none other than Toyota’s new World Rally Championship team boss and four-times WRC champion Tommi Makinen.

A source close to Toyota tells us Makinen is using his rallying skills to finely tune the car’s chassis, which will be powered by a naturally aspirated 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine rumoured to generate around 96kW.

Production of Toyota's all-new entry-level sports car, which is expected to weigh less than 980kg, is slated to start around December 2016, with the first cars due to land in showrooms globally by early 2017.

The best news? Toyota is understood to be targeting a price tag of less than $20,000.

But that's not all. Toyota will also use this year's Tokyo show to unveil the products of its high-profile joint-venture sports car project with BMW.

The German car-maker has already hinted at the fruit of its labour in the form of the 3.0 CSL Hommage R Concept, which should preview a replacement for its Z4 Roadster, and Tokyo is where we can expect to see Toyota's take on the project.

We reported last month that Toyota's belated Supra successor will employ a BMW-sourced 3.0-litre turbo-petrol six, as well as a plug-in hybrid powertrain based around the same engine.

Our sources say Toyota has already green-lighted its own design and that "it can hold its ground in the styling department against the BMW”, which would be no mean feat.

Toyota's two coupe concepts, which preview production models that will bookend the 86 in a new sports car family from the world's biggest car-maker, will headline a rejuvenated Tokyo show for 2015.

Japan's biggest auto show might have been relegated to B-grade status in the region following the surge in prominence of China's Beijing and Shanghai shows in recent years.

However, this year's Tokyo show is expected to return to its glory days of the 1990s, spurred on by strong overseas sales by the county's biggest car-makers led by Toyota, Nissan, Subaru and Mazda, all of which have at least two show cars in store – many of them significant, some of them fun and a handful just plain wacky.

Images: Best Car and Holiday Auto

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Written byPeter Lyon
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