One of the most enticing electric car concepts revealed by Toyota at the end of 2021 was the FT:Se, whose compact dimensions and two-seater mid-engined-like design screamed electric MR2 revival. At the time, Toyota said nothing about the prospect of bringing it to production, but a few years on from the original reveal, the manufacturer changed its tune, revealed an updated version of the concept, and started giving strong hints that it had plans to turn it into an EV that you will be able to buy.
When we talked to Hideaki Iida, who is GR Design Group project manager for Toyota and the designer of the FT:Se Concept, he said, “We're going to release the Lexus model in 2026 and this one afterward.” He was referring to the production version of the Lexus LF-ZC, which will be related to the GR electric sports car.
While still not officially confirmed for production, the updated FT:Se concept looked even closer to a series model than the original design study, with different lights, redesigned air intakes, door-mounted rearview mirrors and physical door handles. Sure, it still had a futuristic interior with a yoke-like steering wheel flanked by screens, which may not make it into production in that form, but the rest of the vehicle and its interior didn’t look too far removed from a series model.
The car also features GR badges rather than Toyota crests, which hints that the manufacturer may introduce GR as a standalone performance sub-brand. Toyota Chairman Akio Toyoda told Road & Track that a dedicated GR EV was coming, and it makes a lot of sense for the production FT:Se to be that vehicle. Current GR models still have Toyota branding, but this may be ditched in the future in a move similar to what Seat did with its Cupra performance sub-brand.
Will The Design Change For Production?
With a design that already appears pretty production-ready, the FT:Se probably won’t change much if it becomes a series model. Toyota may enlarge the side mirrors as well as adjust the shape of the light clusters and the bumper, but we don’t think much else will be different.
It’s already quite a big evolution compared to the initial 2021 concept. Even the wheels on the 2023 car look like they are fit for a production sports car.
It is a compact vehicle measuring 172.4 inches in length, 74.5 inches in width and standing 48 inches tall. This makes it almost identical in size to a Lotus Emira but with a surprisingly spacious interior for such a compact vehicle.
Its design language is dramatically different from any other current Toyota, even the sporty GR Supra, which itself has a visual identity that’s unlike any other current model. This unique design may be unique to GR, signaling that the FT:Se really is going to be a GR-only model with a separate visual identity.
The main reason behind the unique look among Toyotas, even ones that wear a GR badge, is that it has a unique design philosophy. When evo spoke to Hideaki Iida, he explained that it looks this way because “I started with aero, rather than sketching. Normally with design you start with sketches, doodles; with this car I started with aerodynamic information.”
This means that all the aerodynamic elements built into the car’s body serve a function and aren’t there just to make it look sporty. Some of the images that Toyota released in 2023 showed two versions of the FT:Se. One was the regular road model, while the other was a more aggressive track-focused variant with a big rear wing, which should help keep the rear glued to the road through high-speed corners.
Will It Keep The Yoke?
One of the most striking parts of the FT:Se’s interior is the cockpit area, which features a very futuristic-looking yoke-like steering wheel with two small portrait screens on either side. This unique layout makes the car look like a concept since it's something we've never seen in a production car. It actually seems quite feasible to have this type of layout since it would allow the driver to change settings on the two screens, possibly without even having to take their hands off the wheel.
If Toyota wants the production FT:Se to keep the yoke-like steering wheel, it will need a variable progressive steering rack; otherwise, it will result in a lot of unpleasant arm twirling especially when driving the vehicle at the limit around road with tight turns and trying to provoke oversteer. It could even get an evolution of the steer-by-wire system that Toyota offers in the bZ4X or the Lexus RZ electric crossover.
The driver would not only change various driving-related settings through the two screens but also adjust temperature and fan speed, as well as turn on the lights and wipers. There is no central infotainment screen, but it looks like the passenger could adjust the temperature for the right zone via a small screen located below the right air conditioning vent. There is an additional screen above the steering wheel right in front of the driver serving as a digital gauge cluster relaying important information like speed (and speed limits) as well as navigation information.
Even though it won’t have a multiple-gear transmission, the production FT:Se could get simulated gears. We’ve seen Toyota experiment with this with plans to integrate it into future sporty EVs to enhance driver involvement, and this seems like the perfect car to get that system. It would either add a physical stick shifter between the sets and a third pedal, or it would be integrated in the form of paddles on the steering wheel (which could also be used to adjust the level of regeneration).
What Will Power It?
Toyota said when it revealed the FT-Se that it had a dual-motor setup, which made it all-wheel drive. No word on how much power its two motors made, but the vehicle was deemed capable of sprinting from naught to 60 mph in under 3 seconds and reaching a top speed of 155 mph—450 horsepower sounds about right to make a vehicle of this size accelerate that quickly.
The powertrain will also have a rear bias to make the vehicle feel like a mid-engined rear-wheel-drive sports car. If other GR-badged offerings from Toyota are anything to go by, the series FT-Se will allow the back to step out and provide a lot of controllable oversteer.
Its battery pack could be made up of Toyota’s new performance prismatic cells, which are currently in development as part of a joint venture with Panasonic. This new battery technology is expected to debut in a production car in 2026 and offers significantly improved power density, range and charging capability.
Toyota expects a 20% reduction in cost compared to the batteries it puts in the bZ4X today. Solid-state batteries could also be an option for the FT:Se, with all the benefits they bring. It would make a lot of sense to go solid-state in a light and agile sports car, and since Toyota expects to launch the first solid-state production car in 2027-2028, the timeline wouldn’t exclude it.
If it uses the prismatic cells, the car will reportedly be able to take up rapid charging at up 350 kW, good for a 10 to 80% charging time of about 20 minutes. With this newer battery tech, the vehicle should be able to drive up to 350 miles on one charge.
The battery pack is the heaviest component that goes into an EV, so making it as light as possible is crucial to bestow the car with cornering and braking capability that keen drivers expect. Toyota has said that a production FT:Se would have a battery pack that is much lighter than what it currently has in its EVs, emphasizing the need to keep battery weight down.
When Is It Coming And What’s It Going Up Against?
What Hideaki Iida told us about the time frame for the FT:Se’s production is the closest thing we have to a confirmation. He didn’t want to be specific about the year, but he seemed pretty sure it was happening when he said, “We can't guarantee the year itself, but as soon as possible. After 2026 is what I can tell you."
So if it arrived in 2027, there would already be dedicated electric sports cars on the market. The upcoming fully electric Porsche 718 Cayman, set to arrive next year, would be its biggest rival. Polestar is also developing a competitor, the Polestar 6, which it recently showcased as the near-production BST concept, a development of the attractive O2 study, and anticipates its release in 2026.
Another potential rival is the production version of the Caterham Project V, which is a handling-focused dedicated electric sports car that’s also said to debut sometime in 2025 or 2026.
How Toyota markets the car and what it ends up calling it will play a key part in its potential market success. As cool as it would be, we don’t think it will revive the MR nameplate for this model, but the MR2, which was a mid-engined sports car built by Toyota over three generations from 1984 until 2007, will surely be mentioned in press releases and promotional materials.
Pricing for the electric MR2 successor is expected to kick off at $60,000, which means it will undercut the electric Porsche Cayman, which is believed to start closer to $80,000 and pass $100,000 with options. Both will be much cheaper than the Polestar 6, which will cost around $200,000 in LA Concept Edition guise.
