AE86 – Toyota’s Future is… in the past?

It’s a given that every automotive manufacturer around the globe is currently focused on the future, and with that, the means of propulsion that will be available to their respective shiny new offerings. We’re used to seeing sleek, impossibly futuristic machines powered by electricity and unicorn tears and LEDs in the name of future mobility. What we’re not used to seeing, however, is a manufacturer using its old wares to promote new tech. We used to independents like Lunaz and so on doing it. But Toyota? With its legendary AE86? Nobody saw that coming.

You might have seen the news bandied about last week. However, we’re not here to post reactionary content. We wanted to take a bit of time to think about this, and ponder the implications as well as what could be seen as more than slight faith in what many deem to be an unlikely future fuel source – hydrogen. Of course, we’re speculating here, but even so, the fact remains that we’re not really sure what Toyota is trying to achieve with this?

Unveiled at the Tokyo Auto Salon last week, the two examples of Toyota’s famed AE86 were initially met with excitement. It’s an emotive car, one that is so tightly woven into car culture it’s known even to people who don’t know what a spark plug is. It’s a motorsport legend, a pop culture legend and for those lucky enough to have piloted one, it’s a glowing example of just how good the age old combination of a front-mounted longitudinal engine backed up with a sharp manual transmission and rear-wheel drive can be. And in the sea of Liberty Walk Ferrari F40s and other custom creations, these two fitted in a treat. Modified, with custom graphics, lowered suspension and RS Watanabe alloys, there is no denying they look great. Look closer though, and you’ll see the Trueno has ‘H2’ emblazoned on the side, while the Levin has ‘EV’. Oh man.

Toyota says this is the future for classics, a way in which to make these ‘enthusiast’ cars sustainable for the future. Nope, don’t like that. If you or I want to convert our classic to electric, that’s our prerogative. When a global player suggests it, that’s worrying. There is some relief in that the cars are just concepts, but even so, Toyota’s top man, Akio Toyoda, was clear in his messaging.

“Many automakers are targeting anywhere from 2030 to 2040 to 100 per cent shift to battery-electric vehicles. However the reality is we cannot achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050 simply by switching all new-car sales to [electric],” Mr Toyoda explained to a presumably baffled crowd. “We must think of [cars] in operation. In other words it is important to provide options for other cars that are already owned by someone.”

“Although the AE86 conversion technology has to go through many more improvements and evolutions, by sending our message to car lovers today I want to dismiss the fear that we won’t be able to drive our beloved cars when we go carbon neutral” he concluded. But here’s the thing; does that fear exist? There are, in Europe alone, 270,000,000 ‘legacy’ vehicles, by which we mean cars that are in use using ICE technology. Of course, that number will change as people adopt EVs and so on, but not everyone will. Nor want to. As for us, the die hard enthusiasts, many of us really don’t want to, nor will ever. And that should be our choice. Toyota has a responsibility to represent its past, not scare the people passionate about it. This technology is an option, certainly, but it shouldn’t be presented as a solution to a fear that, from where we’re sitting, seems based on nothing of any substance.

The cars are clever. The Trueno still has the amazing 4A-GE engine in place, which is now fuelled by hydrogen. The EV Levin is smart, too, because engineers have left the manual transmission in place to hopefully retain some of the car’s soul. The engineering is top notch. The acknowledgement of the AE86’s current place in the motoring world – by which we mean modified – has been applied beautifully with the Bride seats, the suspension, the roll-cages and so on. The cars are, make no mistake, outstanding. A glorious example of what can be done.

However, Akio seems to be touting this as what should be done, and that doesn’t sit well. When we buy a car, lock stock, the manufacturer can make no claim to it. It can’t tell us how to use it, how to fuel it or how to live with it. It can suggest, it can innovate and inspire and it can try, but that’s all. What a manufacturer shouldn’t do is tell us it is addressing an untruth, or in Akio’s words, “the fear that we won’t be able to drive our beloved cars when we go carbon neutral”.  There’s isn’t a fear. Anyone with half a peanut upstairs knows that cars are changing, but nobody is going to tell us we can’t use them. And as for hydrogen, it seems like Toyota is the only weight behind it. Nobody else, other than a few smaller start-ups, seem that invested. Toyota appears to be pushing hydrogen when, really, it’s not that popular.

With synthetic fuels on the rise, with hard proven data to confirm that within the broader spectrum of the car, the classic has little impact, this seems like a strange exercise by Toyota. Again, the cars are great, but the messaging should have been one of inspiration, pride of heritage and information sharing. But in one line, it was boiled down to being a reaction to a false fear. And that seems… strange.