Is the Scion FR-S sedan destined for a Dubai debut?

By Nick Jaynes Published November 3, 2013

We’ve been hearing rumors of a Scion FR-S based sedan for some time now. And, frankly, we never quite believed the rumors, as we weren’t Toyota would be so daring as to make such a thing. Toyota, as you might know, is fairly conservative with its cars. And a compact, rear-wheel drive sports sedan seemed too outlandish for any one of its brands – let alone Scion.

If the Dubai Motor Show Facebook page (by way of Auto Guide) is to be believed, though, that’s exactly what will be debuting in the desert on November 5^th.

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What you see above is the photoshopped image of what the Toyota GT86 (the global nameplate of the Scion FR-S) of what the all-new concept sedan could look like. If it’s to be believed, I love it.

Power will likely come from one of three drivetrains: the standard 200 horsepower 2.0-liter boxer four-cylinder that powers the present FR-S, a bored-out 2.5-liter version of that motor that could push 256+ hp, or even a sport hybrid powertrain that has been on the tongue of industry analysts for some time now.

I’d absolutely love to see Toyota dip into the sport hybrid world in a real way – after all, Toyota is the brand that started the hybrid craze. I don’t believe, however, that it’s ready to do so.

There are a couple reasons: 1.) I’m not sure Toyota would really debut such a noteworthy powertrain technology in Dubai right before the Tokyo Auto Show. And 2.) If it were ready to roll out its first real sport hybrid powertrain, I feel like we would have heard more about it by now.

Despite speculation, if the GT86 sedan does debut in Dubai, it’ll likely be a wild concept that never goes into production and likely not feature any exciting new drivetrain bits.

Toyota has a habit of making concepts that the motoring world loves and then quietly crushing them. Remember the awesome and – seemingly – production-ready GT86 Convertible? Yeah, Toyota isn’t making that despite insistence that the chassis was penned to be convertible ready.

So, yes, you’ll likely see an FR-S sedan next week. And you’ll probably never get to buy one. Huzzah?

Former Automotive Editor

Nick Jaynes is the Automotive Editor for Digital Trends. He developed a passion for writing about cars working his way…

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