Will Toyota Actually Build The GR HV's Weird 'Pretend Manual'?
Manufacturers usually give at least some vague hint as to what their concepts are for. Perhaps it’s a very close preview for an incoming production car. Maybe it’s showcasing some new technology. Or it could be all about future design language. But at the 2017 Tokyo Motor Show, there was a conspicuous lack of hinting going on.
The Mazda Coupe concept? Your guess is as good as ours. Honda’s effortlessly cool Sports EV? Well, we know a production version of its Urban EV brother is happening, but we’ve no idea if the coupe will end up in showrooms. And hardest to work out of all is the GT86-based Toyota GR HV concept.
It raises four main questions. Is this what the next GT86 will look like? Will there be a targa-topped GT86 in the future? Is the car’s unusual automatic gearbox with its manual-like H-pattern shifter going into production? And finally, is there a hybrid GT86 incoming? Currently, we’re thinking probably not for the first two, and quite possibly for the second two.
At the show, project manager Tomohiko Shishido claimed there was indeed a demand from customers for a manual-like shift on an automatic gearbox. “They want to choose the gear - we want to give them the operational sensation [of the manual],” he told us. This does make some degree of sense - hybrid cars are very rarely fitted with manuals, so a quirky gearbox like the HV’s - which lets you shift in a manual-like six-speed H-pattern - could have a place amid the rise of electrified cars.
It wouldn’t be tied to one kind of gearbox, either. “You could apply the same technological concept to either a regular automatic transmission or a CVT,” Shishido-san explains. Although of course, the gears you’d shifting through on a CVT would of course be ‘simulated’ ratios.
As to whether or not Toyota will put the idea into production, the prospect certainly wasn’t ruled out, but Shishido-san didn’t expand upon his simple reply of “I would like to.” But it would be strange for the Japanese firm to roll out such a curious idea without at least some intent to make it, wouldn’t it? Plus, there is a drive within the company to make more fun-to-drive hybrids, hence why an electrified GT86 could be on the cards.
We’re yet to be convinced by the prospect of such a transmission - if it’s not a real, bona fide manual, I’m not sure what the point is, especially when paddle shifters do a perfectly good job of giving you control over an auto ‘box. But still, you can colour us intrigued. We’d certainly be up for trying one, particularly if it came in a hybrid GT86. With a targa top. Go on Toyota, you know you want to…
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
I hate the looks. The first gen of this chassis was so nice looking they should’ve just stuck with that
It looks like a concept from the 80’s. I know it’s Japanese but we‘re used to better, especially from Nissan
Hey americans too want to shift like in f&f
#sorrynotsorry
This pretend manual concept could be good.
six speed*
In my opinion the idea of a manual-ish automatic transmission is dull.
If you have a manual gearbox in your car is because you want to have a complete bond with it by feeling how it behaves. And if you have a sequential gearbox in your car is because you expect your car to exploit all the performance that the car can produce by minimizing human errors.
This new H-pattern automatic gearbox just take the worst of both experiences: It won’t help you to make that bond with your car and it won’t make your shifts as fast as you hope.
Ifeel like it’s more geared (ha, get it?) towards people who are scared of clutches. But otherwise i completely agree
I dont think i could have put it better myself. Ill add though; a lot of that bond and driver connection is the mechanical feedback that vibrates when i put my foot on the clutch, and through my hand when i go to change gears. Not having a clutch and a shifter that isnt connected to anything sounds dull af. Imagine if it feels similar to those shifters that come with racing sim wheels. LOL
Dosent the original Smart Car have a transmission like this…?
It just has paddles I’m pretty sure.
Well, actually the concept of an automatic stickshift isn’t new: VW already came out with something called the Autostick in 1968
I still don’t understand the 86 GR HV gearbox
why not have an EV with a manual gearbox for both the driving experience and also the optimum rpm for an electric motor. yes i know electric motors have maximum torque at or near 0 rpm and a very wide powerband
Toyota, you’ve refused to give the GT86 more power because its meant to be a simple “pure” sports car, so there is no excuse for making an electric or hybrid one.