Is that a Lamborghini? Not quite. No, it isn’t one of the copycat cars either. If you’re sharp enough, you’d notice the Toyota badge on the front hood. So why is Toyota, a company known for its reliable, family-oriented cars doing with a high-end performance ride like this?
Turns out this is a concept vehicle called Volta (from a few years ago, I may add). The name would give it away – it’s a high-performance hybrid car that claims a 0-60mph in 4 seconds, even while achieving an economic fuel consumption of 435 miles for a 13.7 gallon tank (that’s 700km with about 50liter for us metric folks). What’s also intriguing is the internal layout (too bad they don’t have a picture of it):
The Giugiaro-designed carbon-fiber body seats three people abreast and features “drive-by-wire” controls, allowing you to position the steering wheel and pedals in front of any one of them.
So you can be a tree-hugger even with sportiness running through your blood! When this thing makes it to production, at least.
P/S: Toyota has been named by Business Week as the 3rd most innovative company in the world – just after Apple and Google. “Toyota’s dominance in hybrids has led to gas-electric cars for its Lexus brand and could bring the first plug-in electric hybrid within the next four years. The carmaker’s famous continuous improvement process—its own unsexy but effective approach to innovation—is being copied worldwide.”
