
Toyota has graced us with incredible cars over the decades. So what is Toyota doing with these pillars of the industry?
The MR2, the Supra and the everlasting beautiful Toyota 2000GT were some of the most spectacular ones. But if Toyota gave us plenty of cars to write about and test drive, one thing it has been very slow to show us are sporty hybrid coupes. We can applaud the much needed revamping of its Corolla and Camry sagging image, but our first choice would have been to bring back the MR2 and Supra with a modernized drivetrain, such as plug-in hybrid (PHEV). Electric motors in those cars, anyone?
Our interview of Steve Wickham, Toyota’s TRD USA Vice President, Chassis Operations and his active involvement racing electric vehicles for the company left us wondering why Toyota hasn’t done more with its two of its logical updates, the Supra and the MR2.
What if Toyota…
Let’s play the game of, what if Toyota used its Prius hybrid success to give us a sporty coupe? Rumors have floated around in the past, but nothing has happened so far. If the public initially seems enthusiastic at the prospect of a sporty hybrid coupe, and the plug-in hybrid version of the Prius sold out faster than Toyota ever anticipated, how come Toyota hasn’t given us a sporty PHEV?

Here is a tidbit we missed at the last Tokyo Auto Show, the TE-S800 plug-in hybrid concept. Although it is disappointingly only a concept, enthusiastic consumers should ask Toyota to commercial such a sporty hybrid. The Toyota Engineering Society “unveiled” this MR2 plug-in hybrid. Unfortunately, this group is made up of volunteers from the Toyota engineering department.
The TE-S800 might be a mouthful to pronounce and we would bet the final name would be closer to MR2+, or MR2 PHEV. It could easily become the MR2’s successor. Weighing in at about 2,200 lb. (1,000 kg), it sports a 1.5L conventional 1NZ-FE engine pushing 115 hp at 6400 rpm. It also wisely uses a Prius 102 hp PHEV drivetain coupled to a Toyota E-CVT transmission. The performance is notable with a 0 to 60 mph in 5.8 seconds.
Is Toyota testing out the waters or is it merely showing what it could do? One thing is for sure, many would be happy to see this reincarnation of the MR2 with a proper plug-in hybrid system.
The car looks like a mashup between that little ill-selling Honda coupe from the 1990s and the MR2. Unless it’s a hybrid or has some real road appeal, I don’t see this car doing well. It looks too wannabe with all those “McLaren” and “Ferrari” ripoff details.
You are a wonderful writer. I’ve join the mailing list for your
blog cos I don’t want to miss out on your upcoming articles or blog posts
We love spammers. A) We don’t have a mailing list… yet. B) CarNewsCafe is not a blog. C) We strive for quality on our own, not by piggy-backing another’s, but thanks anyway for the generic blurb.
looks a bit like an elise they shouldve just updated the last model which the rather stupidly axed
Interesting point, considering Lotus and Toyota have raced together.
the body work looks much uglier than the aw11, sw20 and zzw30 mr2s
The front that is, the rear looks ok, and the sides aren’t too bad
Yes, aerodynamics are often difficult to do and make it look aesthetic. Plus, Toyota isn’t spending much money on its EV program, if any. This is a test bed that matures every year. The team is great.