[Grenade Man]

I hope it sees production and is sold in the US. This is a welcome sight-there are so few lightweight, inexpensive sports cars. It’s not interesting to me when Brand X rolls out a new carbon fiber, 900 hp V12, 3,500 lb. monster. Those cars are pointless for street use.

 

[trw]

If it looks like the concept model and is cheap then it'll quickly become my second car and then I'll be engine swapping it as soon as possible

 

[Noobtber]

Prime Hyabusa motor swap candidate

 

[Dan]

There's no way they'll sell this in the US, which is a bummer. I want to own a mid engined car from new, but I can't afford a Porsche/Lotus.

 

[R-Ozzy]

Don't play with my emotions like this Toyota and Suzuki!

 

[DylanJZA]

I'd be incredibly shocked if that made it over here, but here's to hoping.

 

[apex]

This guy that specializes in covering Japanese automakers shared his take:

Toyota's NEW mid-engine MR2 gets Fresh Details!

 

[PhoenixM3]

Lost me at mild-hybrid. Doubt the thing would meet crash standards, but who knows.

 

[Noobtber]

Lost me at mild-hybrid. Doubt the thing would meet crash standards, but who knows.

Mild hybrids don't deserve the poor reputation you all give them. The low end torque from the electric motor will allow them to put a much larger, later spooling turbo on the engine, and squeeze more power while still providing a drivable vehicle.

I get the appeal of big, N/A V8s or high revving turbo I6's, but this isn't a bad option.

 

[Duchess]

I'll believe it when I see it. I'd be a little more apt to believe it if they weren't claiming under $20k. That speculative price is an area of the market most OEMs are abandoning for lack of profit and what's left at $20k and under is mostly penalty box junk built by bottom-feeder OEMs with dealer networks one step removed from Buy Here Pay Here lots with curb appeal only to grandma looking for her final car. Much of the cost of making a $40K vehicle is also in a $20k one (development, testing, certification, tooling, etc.) and the sales volumes don't make up for it as they are often lower than cars one or two classes above, so it's no surprise nobody wants to sell there anymore. Parts sharing helps, but to make the price point (and often smaller size), they can't economically use something higher end. The other way, with building the platform for such a cut-price low end then stretching that into a higher bracket often hurts the higher end vehicle sales against competitors that didn't cheap out so much (see the POS Fiesta platform/higher-trim-Focus-priced short-lived Ecosport. Plenty of others, too, but holy hell do I hate those things and want to single them out). This wouldn't be able to share a platform with anything else. Yaris parts, OK, but that's not a platform and using the FWD components in the rear to make a cheap mid-engined car isn't quite so simple as it was in the '70s-'80s with today's expectations and regulations. If this does get built and comes here (US), I can't imagine all the crybabies moaning about it lacking Pagani build quality and materials.

 

[HumboldtEF]

Cool do it!

I recall Honda was throwing around the idea of bringing the S660 to the US and putting a 1 liter in it.

 

[Dano]

They're jerkin' yer gherkin but we can dream!

 

[PBR]

2200 lbs? Take my money and even better if it folds and fits in my BRZ's trunk.

 

[Kosh]

They will sell 50 units in Europe and mark up $50000 in USA...

 

[thebaron]

Local market price is likely correct but that becomes 1.5x in US and 2x in Europe if it ever makes it outside of Japan.

I can actually see a situation where it does show up in Europe as the 86 will be gone off sale next year given the incoming regulations. If Toyota wish to continue with the current (welcome) strategy of a GR sporty range then it could replace the 86 in the GR model hierarchy.

 

[Argo]

Since Lotus doesn't build the Elise anymore there might be a market for such a car

 

[RednDead]

2200 lbs? Take my money and even better if it folds and fits in my BRZ's trunk.

Funny you expect anything at all to fit into our trunks 🤣

 

[PBR]

Funny you expect anything at all to fit into our trunks 🤣

Funny you expect anything at all to fit into our trunks 🤣

I don't know. For the size of the car, the size of the trunk is solid.

 

[Xer0]

There is no way anything resembling this car makes it to production for 20K. It’s a small miracle the BRZ/86 already exist at ~30K, I don’t see how Toyota call pull this bunny out of its hat but if they can, more power to them.