Toyota’s Australian division has built the car that every enthusiast dreams of: a sleek-looking shooting brake based on the GT86, which is better known as the Scion FR-S on our shores. The concept was presented during a private event held in Sydney.
Toyota toyed around with the idea of giving the Shooting Brake a specific front end, but designers ultimately chose to leave it alone. The bulk of the modifications are consequently found beyond the B-pillar, where the 86 gains a longer roof panel, an upswept rear window, and an upright hatch. The extra sheet metal frees up more headroom for the rear passengers, it gives the 86 a bigger trunk, and it allows motorists to carry bulky items such as bikes and surfboards on the roof. It also makes the Shooting Brake one of the best looking Toyotas in recent memory.
It doesn’t sound like Toyota has made any mechanical modifications. Fully functional, the Shooting Brake is powered by a naturally aspirated 2.0-liter flat-four engine that makes 200 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque. The regular GT86 is available with either a six-speed manual transmission or a six-speed automatic unit, but what gearbox the concept uses hasn’t been revealed. Regardless, the four-banger spins the rear wheels.
Interestingly, the project started nearly two years ago when Tetsuya Tada, the GT86’s global chief engineer, saw a one-quarter scale clay model of a long-roof 86 while visiting Toyota’s Australian headquarters. The car was simply a design study that wasn’t destined to become a concept, let alone a production car, but Tada liked it so much that he asked Toyota’s prototype-building division to make it a reality.
Read more: The Scion FR-S has been renamed Toyota 86, and it gains five extra horsepower in the process
Now, for the bad news. Toyota has been reluctant to build offshoots of the GT86 in the past, and the Shooting Brake is sadly no exception. While Tada pointed out that he’d love to see the Shooting Brake hit showroom floors, it’s simply a concept that’s not seriously being considered for mass production. At least not for the time being, that is.
