The global goliath that is Toyota has for some time been looking beyond motoring. To movement itself. Appropriately, at the newly rebranded Tokyo Mobility Show, the car giant is using the futuristic city to showcase a vision that’s light-years from the Yaris.
First up, and arguably most important for Irish buyers, is a concept version of the future Corolla. While it signals that the world’s most ubiquitous car is due for a major overhaul in the coming years, executives stress this is not a near-production model.
Yet if it was, it would herald a vast leap in terms of styling and finish for the hugely popular car.
It does offer pointers to a radical new design, and a major leap forward that also secures the Corolla’s future. And Toyota has been brave in the past with its concepts, delivering the C-HR from concept to road-going car and creating a model that set new standards of quality and perception for the brand. Similarly with the latest Prius. Can they be brave enough to deliver on this impressive styling? We can only hope.
RM Block
Underpinning that future will be a new platform, designed primarily for all-electric power but adaptable for hybrid use. It’s a reversal of the current approach, which was hybrid-first with EV capability added on.
If the next Corolla carries any of the styling traits or scale, this will be the most radical overhaul of the model range in its history.
Then there’s a new-look Lexus LS concept—this time shown as a crossover. Ian Cartabiano, head of Toyota’s Calty Design Research Centre in California, admits the role of luxury flagships has changed since the first LS arrived in 1989, with saloons losing out to SUVs.
It’s no major gamble to predict that the next flagship LS may adopt this format, though perhaps closer to an SUV than a low-roofed coupe. Lexus designers speak of LS no longer standing for Luxury Sedan, but now Luxury Space. That’s why they showcased a six-wheeler people-carrier van with opulent interior.
Why six wheels? Because they needed to reduce the space in the rear that’s lost to larger wheel arches. So smaller wheels are needed, but in turn you need more of them for a car of this size. So is this the new LS? Perhaps the reality lies somewhere between the exterior styling of the crossover concept and the interior space of this Lexus minibus.
There’s also a near-production sports car concept, first shown at Pebble Beach this summer, that hints at a new performance era for Lexus.
Toyota has also unveiled an all-new brand: Century, which will sit above Lexus and take on the likes of Rolls-Royce and Bentley in the ultra-luxury market.
In an at times emotional address, Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda described Century as “the pride of Japan”. Engineered in the difficult post-war era, the original Century debuted in 1967 as a premium chauffeur-driven car. The shogunate chariot of Tokyo’s elite.
Now, Toyoda wants to take the marque global. Its phoenix emblem symbolises Japan’s post-war rebirth, and in his speech, Toyoda lamented that modern Japan has “lost its energy and dynamism”—a spirit he hopes to rekindle through craftsmanship and innovation. And sales of his ultra-luxury cars, of course.
That craftsmanship is typified by the finish of the Century concept crossover, coated in 60 hand-applied layers of paint. The model line-up will include a coupé, SUV and large saloon. Although the brand has already launched in China, feasibility studies are still being carried out to determine whether it will reach Europe. With Toyoda’s clear emotional attachment, some European presence seems likely—even if Ireland may not be first in line.
Hopefully, someone might address the brand’s logo in the meantime. The phoenix bird looks like a rather scrawny half-plucked affair, like a cross between a dodo and a liver bird. It’s a long way short of the Spirit of Ecstasy adorning the bonnets of its rival, Rolls Royce.
From the top end to the grassroots, Toyota has also created a concept vehicle with rural Africa in mind. The IMV Origin is where Ikea meets Meccano—a self-assembly project that arrives 70 per cent complete, allowing customers or local firms to adapt each vehicle to their needs.
It can be a delivery van, a camper, or even a day-care shuttle. Tapping into the ingenuity of local mechanics across Africa and Asia, who already retrofit and repair vehicles themselves, the IMV Origin offers a foundation they can modify to suit their own communities.
There are also the more futuristic flights of fancy: a six-wheeled Lexus with an interior inspired by a Japanese living room—complete with bamboo screens—and a single-seat transporter that looks like a business-class pod on wheels.
Finally, Toyota is creating ingenious mobility solutions for people with disabilities, including off-road electric-powered wheelchairs - dubbed by Akio Toyoda as the Land Cruiser of wheelchairs - and four-legged robot seats that can climb stairs. With an ageing population in its home market, Toyota is acutely aware of its role in serving not just motorists, but wider mobility needs.
Heavily laden with concepts, Toyota’s Tokyo showcase is couched in conjecture - but there are clues to what’s coming. Seats that swivel towards the doors to ease access for people with mobility issues could make production, as could styling cues such as the lower dash of the Corolla and the signature front treatment of the new Lexus LS. We may also see more Japanese-inspired interior design touches - such as bamboo, a sustainable yet stylish material that can also help curb an invasive species.
Toyota makes no apologies for mixing the madcap with the meaningful. Alongside its immediate rethink of mainstream platforms for the EV age, launching a new brand in the super-luxury segment is a bold statement of intent. But there are rich profits to be made if the world’s wealthiest buyers embrace its message of craftsmanship.
From the humble Corolla to the luxury Century, Toyota shows its imagination stretches from the everyday to the extraordinary.
It’s riffing on the future, trying to stay dominant in the eye of the EV and software storm - where car firms must satisfy petrolheads, eco-drivers, traditionalists and tech evangelists alike.
Expected to be both stable and daring, Toyota must be bold and bashful all at once. That’s a monumental task—but perhaps only Toyota is big enough to pull it off.
