This sleek electric car with two seats was first shown at the Tokyo Motor Show. The small and attractive car shows how flexible Toyota’s new electric design will be. With the GR86, Supra, and this car, Akio Toyoda might be able to keep his word of having “three brothers” in its sports car family. After releasing teaser pictures of the FT-Se concept electric sports car last week, Toyota finally showed it off at the Tokyo Motor Show. It looks great and, with a few silly parts, seems ready for production, even though that hasn’t been confirmed. Toyota hasn’t given away any technical information, but the fact that the FT-Se was released at the same time as the FT-3e crossover design suggests that the company’s next-generation EV platform is flexible. Toyota says that many of the main parts of both cars will be used in each other. Toyota has already said it is working on a new ultra-compact battery design with cells no more than 100 mm (3.9 inches) tall. Because it is slim and low, the FT-Se looks like it was made to fit these. The two-seater FT-Se comes after the light MR2, made for three generations from the 1980s to the early 2000s. In reality, its proportions are not precise because its wheels are pushed out to the edges of its frame, making it look wide and low. Large EV openings are built into the front bumper, and there is extra room under the rear spoiler with full-width strakes that look like the Ferrari 512’s back grilles. Without question, Toyota’s line of high-performance cars could easily accommodate a car like the FT-Se. Ex-CEO Akio Toyoda said that the company wanted “three brothers,” we think the FT-Se has an excellent chance to become the third brother to the Supra and GR86. As expected from a sporty Toyota, the FT-Se has the GR logo from Toyota’s Gazoo Racing performance business. Toyota says that the GT-Se will have a new lower instrument panel and knee padding to protect drivers from high g-forces while they drive, but we have yet to see what those look like. Toyota has already said they are working on a test electric sports car with a “virtual stick shift.” The GT-Se commercial model is an excellent candidate to have this feature added. This idea is also used by Hyundai’s Ioniq 5 N, but paddles are used instead of an H-gate to simulate manual gears. The FT-Se may end up in a pond full of fish if it works well in production. For the future, Porsche is working on an electric Cayman. Lotus said it will replace the Elise with an electric car, and Renault’s Alpine unit is making its lightweight sports-EV.
