Automakers have the bad habit of keeping some of their concepts hidden from the public, but thankfully some of them eventually see the light of day. A great example is the pictured Scion X86D shooting brake concept coming from the Toyota’s Calty design studio in California, which was kind enough to publish more photos of its exterior and interior on Instagram.
The 2012 concept is based on the Scion FR-S which was also designed in Calty, leading to the nearly identical first-gen Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ siblings. The X86D trades the two-door coupe silhouette of the donor car for a more unconventional four-door shooting brake bodystyle.
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Toyota had previously shown us only the rear three quarters view of the concept, but the new set of photos also reveals its face and profile. The curved lines at the front have more in common with the angry face of the Toyota Yaris than with the Scion FR-S. The headlights have a triangular shape with rounded edges, enclosed within black trim piece. The body-colored intake adds a futuristic touch, as with the lines on the long hood and the door-mounted mirror caps.
The side view highlights the dramatic proportions with a very low bonnet made possible by the Subaru-sourced 2.0-liter boxer powertrain. The black recess above the side skirts that connects to the rear wheel arches makes the car look lighter from a design standpoint, while the size of the wheels wouldn’t look out of place in a production vehicle. The overall height appears to be quite low, but the flatter roofline, the extra set of doors, and the rear hatch add practicality points compared to a conventional coupe.
The black-tinted windows suggest that the concept could be a static display vehicle, but Toyota also published a photo of the interior, proving that development advanced more than the average design study. Setting aside the central part of the steering wheel that looks like it came off a Camry, the rest of the cabin looks quite futuristic.
The floating center console leads to a small touchscreen, with a second free-standing display sitting on the top of the dashboard. The hexagonal shapes of the buttons and the climate vents are reminiscent of Lamborghini, while the lime yellow highlights add to the youthful character of the model. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see the rear seats which should be more livable than those of the discontinued Scion coupe.
As with many early design studies, the 2012 Scion X86D concept didn’t get the green light for production, and the project was shelved. A few years later, Toyota showed a more conventional-looking GT86 Shooting Brake Concept that was penned by its Australian design studio, but this also didn’t make it to production. Do you think that an alternative bodystyle for the Toyota/Subaru sportscars would make sense in today’s automotive landscape?
