During the world premiere of the new Toyota 86 sports coupe at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, the firm’s global President Akio Toyoda made it crystal clear that his company is committed to produce more ‘fun-to-drive’ cars in the near future.
But don’t take it from us, read what Toyoda said:
“Today it is said that young people have little interest in cars as there are much more interesting things. As an automobile maker, I find this quite frustrating. It is for this reason that we are committed to making cars that will evoke this feeling of ‘fun to drive, again’ in as many people as possible. This is Toyota’s declaration.”
While the 86 is the only real sports car in Toyota’s current range, we would like to think that Toyoda wouldn’t make such a statement without standing behind it, which is why we found these official patent images of a sported up iQ (sold as a Scion in North America) very interesting.
At this point, we don’t have any information on the car, but we see from the pictures that the iQ is fitted with a wide body kit that includes a bespoke front bumper with a large front grille and side openings, widened wheel arches, and a new rear bumper housing a diffuser and twin tail pipes, plus a roof spoiler that wraps around the rear windshield.
The iQ seen here is also fitted with regular exterior mirrors which further points to a production model.
Up until now, the sportiest version of the iQ was a limited edition for the Japanese market prepared by Toyota’s motorsports partner Gazoo Racing.
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