Toyota Volta **Info from Autocar (page 3)**
02-27-2004, 03:31 PM
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Toyota Volta **Info from Autocar (page 3)**
2004 Geneva: Hybrid-powered Toyota coupe has Italian flair - - - By LUCA CIFERRI | Automotive News Europe - - Source: Autoweek
Hybrid technology does not have to be boring -- that's the message Toyota aims to deliver after teaming up with an Italian auto designer.
The Toyota Volta hybrid-powered coupe combines innovative Japanese technology with Italian flair. Toyota gave Italdesign-Giugiaro its latest hybrid engine, which is destined for the Lexus RX400.
Italdesign created a 4300mm long coupe and named it after Alessandro Volta, the Italian scientist who invented the electric battery.
The Volta has a total output of STET/408hp from a combination of an internal combustion engine and two electric motors mounted on the front and rear axles. The car can reach a top speed of 250kph and accelerates from 0 to 100kph in 4.06 seconds.
"The hybrid engine can provide great power and great performance, so I tried to pen a body that would express this dynamism," said Fabrizio Giugiaro, head of Italdesign's styling and model division, who was responsible for the Volta's look.
The Volta is no gas-guzzler. It can travel 700km on just 7.5 liters of gasoline.
There are no transmission shafts or exhaust tubes that need a central tunnel in the car since the 3.3-liter V-6 engine is mounted near the rear axle.
This allowed Italdesign to design a car with a flat floor that has room for three passengers in a coupe that is slightly narrower than 2 meters.
Italdesign, in addition to the styling, added a carbon-fiber chassis and racing-style front and rear suspensions.
Toyota supplied the entire hybrid propulsion system.
Brembo provided its ceramic composite-material brakes.
02-27-2004, 05:29 PM
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now that is nice. toyota is going to reign supreme in the hybird world
02-28-2004, 12:15 PM
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very nice. I'd still probably prefer a big 12 cylinder high-hp engine singing in my ears for this $$, but it's a great show of technology to give great performance and probably great fuel ecomomy
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02-28-2004, 06:34 PM
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I don't like it as far as styling and I don't think its exotic with a 155mph top speed. Seems like they're sweeping the real problem under the carpet, not that hybrids can't be fast or good looking, its they can't be fast all of the time, run out of juice. I'd be interested to see the 1/4mile time for starters.
02-29-2004, 09:30 PM
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4dr & I like it that way
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didnt honda already have this idea 1-2 years ago with the dualnote concept? ill get more excited when someone actually MAKES a hybrid exotic, not just a concept
03-01-2004, 04:00 PM
#13
The sizzle in the Steak
Sweet!! That thing is HOT!
03-24-2004, 04:57 AM
#28
I miss my 03 CL-S :(
I would buy that if it was under $35k. It doesn't have to have the 400hp, I'd settle for 280 
I'd get rid of the ugly yellow in the lights on the back... No reason why those can't be yellow LEDs on a white background even if it's not too bright.
I'd get rid of the ugly yellow in the lights on the back... No reason why those can't be yellow LEDs on a white background even if it's not too bright.
03-31-2004, 11:39 AM
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Toyota's Volta sports car concept may be basis for next Supra - - By AUTOWEEK
Sources tell AutoWeek that Italdesign-Giugiaro’s Toyota Alessandro Volta hybrid gas-electric sports car, named our Most Significant car at the Geneva motor show (AW, March 15), is even more significant than we could have imagined.
Word is the high-performance hybrid has been spotted circling the Toyota test track in Arizona at speeds in excess of 180 mph and that the car is actually a mildly disguised version of a new Supra.
While a 400-hp hybrid sports car powertrain remains possible by 2007, we also hear rumors of a wild 500-hp mid-engine V8 Supra that would sell for more than $100,000.
Sources tell AutoWeek that Italdesign-Giugiaro’s Toyota Alessandro Volta hybrid gas-electric sports car, named our Most Significant car at the Geneva motor show (AW, March 15), is even more significant than we could have imagined.
Word is the high-performance hybrid has been spotted circling the Toyota test track in Arizona at speeds in excess of 180 mph and that the car is actually a mildly disguised version of a new Supra.
While a 400-hp hybrid sports car powertrain remains possible by 2007, we also hear rumors of a wild 500-hp mid-engine V8 Supra that would sell for more than $100,000.
03-31-2004, 01:12 PM
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Pit Stop?
Originally posted by gavriil
we also hear rumors of a wild 500-hp mid-engine V8 Supra that would sell for more than $100,000.
we also hear rumors of a wild 500-hp mid-engine V8 Supra that would sell for more than $100,000.
07-29-2004, 04:03 PM
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Toyota Hybrid Sports Car "Priapus" Gets Greenlight, Volta concept. Supra replacement?
Toyota Hybrid Sports Car "Priapus" Gets Greenlight
Toyota Motor Corp. set themselves apart from American automakers in the 80's and 90's by designing quality vehicles absent of planned functional obsolescences. This decade Toyota made their mark by introducing the Prius, the first hybrid car to hit the market. Critics have praised it while still dubbing it a "gutless crackerbox", but now crackers have a sporty carriage of testosterone to choose while pretending to remain eco-friendly. Call it the hybrid Volta or the inbred Priapus, either way it still smells like raw pheramones.
Toyota's concept car, designed inside by the rigorous engineering team at Toyota, sports a flashy Italian design from the skin up as conceptualized by famed Italian designer Giugiaro of ItalDesign.
Forget the rickety Mexican taxicab style and performance offered by other hybrids. Thanks to a 3-liter V6 augmented by dual front and rear electric motors, this car boasts a breakneck 0-60 mph in just over four seconds while still offering around 30/mpg under normal driving conditions.
Critical sport enthusiasts feared the car would never reach production status and criticized Toyota as being the last car maker not to release a trophy sports car. Honda/Accura has it's NSX, Chrysler Motors has run the Dodge Viper and Plymouth Prowler. Even General Motors entered the game with their SSR pickup truck, but the wealthy Toyota remained the lone hold out.
Tuesday, Toyota Motors shocked industry analysts with the announcement that their critically acclaimed concept car, previously named the Volta, after the man who discovered electricity, redubbed "the Priapus" by both Car & Driver and Road & Track, will be available to consumers in Germany by Christmas 2004, and the U.S. three months later.
MSRP for the "three-plus-one coupe" is expected to be around $72,000 and is expected to revolutionize the independent racing circuit. Cylinder boring and other performance modifications are expected to be available on a very limited basis, but weekend race enthusiasts are no less prepared to embrace the vehicle. Orders are already being accepted so contact your local Toyota dealership to place a deposit on this piece of automotive history now. Production will be limited and no one doubts this will become an instant classic.
Experts suggest early models should be available on Ebay for prices from $120,000 to $165,000 within weeks of US market release.
Original source:
http://www.glossynews.com/artman/pub...apus-845.shtml
Volta concept
Toyota Motor Corp. set themselves apart from American automakers in the 80's and 90's by designing quality vehicles absent of planned functional obsolescences. This decade Toyota made their mark by introducing the Prius, the first hybrid car to hit the market. Critics have praised it while still dubbing it a "gutless crackerbox", but now crackers have a sporty carriage of testosterone to choose while pretending to remain eco-friendly. Call it the hybrid Volta or the inbred Priapus, either way it still smells like raw pheramones.
Toyota's concept car, designed inside by the rigorous engineering team at Toyota, sports a flashy Italian design from the skin up as conceptualized by famed Italian designer Giugiaro of ItalDesign.
Forget the rickety Mexican taxicab style and performance offered by other hybrids. Thanks to a 3-liter V6 augmented by dual front and rear electric motors, this car boasts a breakneck 0-60 mph in just over four seconds while still offering around 30/mpg under normal driving conditions.
Critical sport enthusiasts feared the car would never reach production status and criticized Toyota as being the last car maker not to release a trophy sports car. Honda/Accura has it's NSX, Chrysler Motors has run the Dodge Viper and Plymouth Prowler. Even General Motors entered the game with their SSR pickup truck, but the wealthy Toyota remained the lone hold out.
Tuesday, Toyota Motors shocked industry analysts with the announcement that their critically acclaimed concept car, previously named the Volta, after the man who discovered electricity, redubbed "the Priapus" by both Car & Driver and Road & Track, will be available to consumers in Germany by Christmas 2004, and the U.S. three months later.
MSRP for the "three-plus-one coupe" is expected to be around $72,000 and is expected to revolutionize the independent racing circuit. Cylinder boring and other performance modifications are expected to be available on a very limited basis, but weekend race enthusiasts are no less prepared to embrace the vehicle. Orders are already being accepted so contact your local Toyota dealership to place a deposit on this piece of automotive history now. Production will be limited and no one doubts this will become an instant classic.
Experts suggest early models should be available on Ebay for prices from $120,000 to $165,000 within weeks of US market release.
Original source:
http://www.glossynews.com/artman/pub...apus-845.shtml
Volta concept
07-29-2004, 04:12 PM
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!!!!!!! That's fucking incrdible!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can't believe they're going to actually make it (I thought it'd never see the light of day). And for $72K ?! That's insane!! And 30MPG! Damn, I may have to mortgage my life and get this car. 
07-29-2004, 04:16 PM
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Originally Posted by Rod
Question is, is there any truth to that article about it actually being released?