Toyota presents a world premiere at the Geneva Motor Show with the reveal of Hybrid X, a concept car that proposes a new design language for hybrid models, while also acting as an innovative technology showcase for future generation hybrid cars.

Hybrid X is a vision for future environmentally friendly motoring. It fits within Toyota’s strategy of offering sustainable mobility for modern families. Hybrid X further extends the use of Hybrid Synergy Drive® which is becoming an enabler for vehicle concept innovation.

Hybrid X is designed as a four-door, four-seat open-space concept. It has the dimensions of a conventional family car.  Hybrid X has been created and developed by Toyota’s European styling centre, in the south of France.

 

Hybrid X follows the core values of the Toyota brand design philosophy under two consistent themes: J-Factor and Vibrant Clarity. J-Factor refers to the local and global acceptance of Japanese-inspired design and cultural form, while Vibrant Clarity is the design language used to express the J-Factor. Through Vibrant Clarity, designers will infuse future vehicles with a completely original identity and emotional intensity that will be uniquely identifiable as coming from Toyota.

Interior designer, Laurent Bouzige, says: “Hybrid X is conceived as a multi-sensory experience. There is a formal style in the shape of the vehicle and the material used but every other reaction is linked to the passengers’ senses of sound, smell, sight and touch through interactive ambience.”

The strongest form element of the exterior shape is the two ‘U’ shapes created by the massive upper glass frame area and the unconventional A and C pillars. When viewed from above this gives the impression of a vast X – hence the name of the concept, Hybrid X.

For now, it is clear Hybrid X is an innovative vehicle that conceives how Hybrid Synergy Drive® technology can deliver economical, cleaner and more comfortable motoring. It is a step closer to Toyota’s vision of the ultimate environmental driving technology and its design will influence the entire Toyota brand and its hybrid models in the future.

 “Over the next few years, we plan to double our global hybrid vehicle offering, anticipating annual sales of over a million hybrid vehicles by early in the next decade,” Dombreval said, Toyota Motor Europe’s executive vice-president. Including Prius, Toyota and Lexus have 11 hybrid models on offer, and has sold 900,000 hybrids worldwide. Around 650,000 of these have been Prius models, and European Prius sales now top 50,000.

The Hybrid X “proposes a new design language”, said Dombreval, with large glass areas and controllable ambience within the car – the driver can adjust “the four senses of sight, sound, touch and smell”.

Toyota also showed the FT-HS hybrid sports car shown at Detroit in January, which has a hybrid system capable of 400bhp and a 0-60mph time of around 4 seconds.

Toyota plans to sell 1.2 million cars in Europe this year, bolstered by strong sales of small cars. Yaris and Aygo combined will account for 370,000 units in 2007, Dombreval said.