Usually, we try not to give too much credence about future products before they are officially announced, because Internet speculation is often wrong as much as it is right.
But this story, which came to us via Car and Driver, is worth spotlighting even if it turns out to be more smoke than fire. On that score, we think it could be legit mostly because the manufacturer in question, Toyota, has been hinting at this product for a while.
We’re talking about the MR2, a mid-engine two-seater that ceased production in 2007. But, over the past few years Toyota has hinted that it could return. Speculation really began to heat up in 2023 when the company revealed the FT-Se Concept at the Japan Mobility Show.
The FT-Se, pictured, looks very much like it could be a new MR2, but there’s a bit of a catch. At the unveiling, Toyota referred to as, “a high-performance BEV model”.
Given the MR2 was a gas car does this mean the FT-Se might be something else entirely? Toyota said at the time that the FT-Se is, “one of the options for sports cars in the carbon-neutral era”, so it could mean that it’s something else entirely and not an MR2 successor.
Intrigue spiked earlier this month when a test mule that looks a lot like an MR2 was spotted on track at Fuji Speedway in Japan.
Videos posted to X by user @You_SuiKoyoAZ show a dark grey sports coupe with a rear wing and large side vents posting laps at Fuji Speedway. And this car is not an EV, as an engine can clearly be heard in the videos.
According to Car and Driver, the user was at the track visiting the Fuji Speedway Motorsport Museum when this development car was out turning laps.
Car and Driver suggested the engine powering the mule could be Toyota’s G20E turbocharged 2.0-liter inline four-cylinder, but they also noted that there are at least six different test mules in existence. They base this info on a trip to Japan earlier this year when they drove one of them. That one was powered by a 1.6-liter three-cylinder turbo (G16E-GTS) that powers the GR Yaris (Yaris M Concept shown below), a car not sold in Europe, but not North America.
The magazine says that Toyota plans to build an additional 14 development mules and each will be different. But, they say, all will be mid-engine with all-wheel drive.
While a production car reveal is likely still a long way off, it seems like Toyota’s much-loved roadster might have a future, and that is a very exciting prospect.
Photos courtesy of Toyota Motor Corp.
