The Toyota FT-HS is a 400-horsepower hybrid sports car with expressive styling that includes areas where outer sheet metal and parts of the seats inside are literally carved away because they’re not needed.

For example, the four separate seats in the FT-HS merely provide the contact points with a passenger’s body. The areas of the seats that don’t need to touch passenger bodies are missing.

The hybrid gas-electric engine includes a 3.5-liter V6 which can provide a projected 0-to-60-miles-an-hour time “in the 4 second range,” said Kevin Hunter, who leads Toyota’s North American Calty Design Center in California.

Purely a design project with no plans for becoming a production car, the FT-HS answers the question, “What is a suitable and appropriate sports car for the 21st century?” he said.

It also explores possible future designs for Toyota. “We don’t want to create design that’s representative of pure American design,” Hunter said. “Toyota is originally a Japanese company. That’s part of our history, part of our culture. We’re trying to express some Japanese attributes … it’s our DNA.”

FT-HS Design

Hunter pointed to the taillights on the FT-HS. They’re integrated into the rear deck, rather than added on decoratively. He also noted that front and rear fascias are scooped out to reduce unnecessary mass. The roof has a scooped-out section, too, to reduce aerodynamic drag and still provide good headroom. The car’s overall style is a contrast of hard-edged corners and minimalist function.

Unique features of the FT-HS include a telescoping hub-less steering wheel for steering by wire, a power roof made of carbon fiber Kevlar that moves down and behind the front-seat passengers for open-air driving and headlights made up of clusters of light-emitting diode lights. 

“Driver today are not satisfied with cars that are simply fast,” Hunter said. “In addition to driving enjoyment, drivers are concerned about safety, ecology and social responsibility.”

Toyota is the world’s largest seller of gas-electric hybrid vehicles. Jim Lentz, executive vice president at Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. Inc., predicted the company will sell a record 150,000 Prius gas-electric hybrids in the U.S. in calendar 2007.

With a U.S. government fuel economy rating of 60 miles a gallon in city driving and 51 mpg on the highway, the 2007 Prius is the most fuel-efficient car sold in America.

Lentz added that when other Toyota and Lexus hybrid model sales are added in, the automaker’s hybrid sales should top 250,000 this year for the first time.