Earlier this year, Toyota showed off the boldly-styled FT-4X soft-roader concept, a vehicular Swiss Army knife with funky but charismatic styling. The new FT-AC concept, which stands for Future Toyota Adventure Concept and debuts in LA, borrows some of the novelty without quite the same amount of charisma. Let’s take a closer look.
First, if you want a quick refresher on the FT-4X, go
read the reveal post and have a
closer look at what might happen if it came to market (toned down for production, of course). Some of the analysis in the second piece is relevant here.
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Now, back to the FT-AC. It appears to be roughly RAV4-sized, with a front end that blends that vehicle’s swept-back, angry headlights with a grille that seems inspired by the Tacoma TRD Pro. The big, quadrangle foglights can be detached and used as portable lights, exemplifying the dual-purpose novelty of the FT-4X. The extra-chunky 20-inch wheels wear blocky all-season tires. The clear message here is that Toyota wants this to live in the “Proper Truck” camp of the Toyota stable, despite what’s almost assuredly a carlike platform underneath.
The profile has lots of Jeep Cherokee inspiration, like the kicked-down window sill aft of the side mirrors that sweeps up as things go aft. A bit of a kink at the C-pillar is a departure, as is the complex faceting at the rear corners, and it adds some distinctiveness to the profile. Huge overfenders and the silly faux-rock sliders are campy and unnecessary, but the low-profile roof rack looks functional and slick. There’s more RAV4 influence at the taillights, but there’s a Volkswagen/Audi-ish look to the rear. It’s more avant-garde than Toyota concepts have managed to look recently, and that’s a credit to the rear design.
As far as interior and powertrain details, Toyota doesn’t have many. It readily admits this is a pure design experiment, with a blue sky attitude about engine choice. Torque-vectoring AWD? Sure. Hybrid system? Why not? Doesn’t matter at this point, because it isn’t real.
We’re hoping there will be neat, FT-4X-like touches inside and more to learn about the outside. The multi-functionality of that prior concept crossover was one of its strengths, and Toyota would be smart to play around with more novel dual-purpose items in the FT-AC concept. We’ll learn all about it on the show floor and report back about what we find. Stay tuned.
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