Toyota GT86 is turning into one of the auto world’s greatest myths. It was unveiled to much pomp and circumstance and it was expected to sell in hue numbers while different variants where planned for it. But those variants one by one are been canned for one simple reason: there is not market for them.
One of those variants was the Toyota GT86 Hybrid which was said to start a whole new class of sports cars when it arrives. The project has now been reportedly shelved, as the Toyota’s business people cannot make sense of it.
Even though the company is perfectly capable of it, developing a Toyota GT86 Hybrid would be a costly job and they reckon they won’t be able to sell enough of the finished product to make it viable. After all, the sales of the normal GT86 is not going that great, either.
Toyota marketing director Fabio Capano told Autocar: “We can create a product with this technology, but it needs to make proper business sense. We have to prioritise.”
To be honest the talk of a hybrid version of the GT86 was hogwash from the beginning. What this thing needs is a big turbo or supercharger and a nicer interior. That’s it. The hybrid technology should be reserved for the high-end sports car Toyota is developing with BMW. And in fact that’s exactly what they are up to.