Toyota CS&S concept to debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show

Sep 1, 2003 – Toyota understands very well that if you are presenting new or experimental technology you have to wrap it up spectacularly. Therefore, thankfully, we meet their latest hybrid drivetrain inside an attractive open four-seater and not in a Corolla or HiAce.

Here we have a 1.5 litre petrol-engine in the rear, driving the rear wheels mechanically. At the same time it produces electrical current, either for storage or for driving the front-wheel hub-mounted electric-motors. That means, supposedly, that this car can use the whole range, from pure rear-driven, via fourwheel-drive with variable front/rear split, to pure electric-powered, zero-emission front wheel drive.

All this in a compact, appearently, two seater barchetta. But lift the rear canopy and you have an open 2+2. Or use the front passenger seat as a Transformer and you have a tonneau cover when you park the car.

The CS&S was designed at the Toyota ED2 studio near Nice, France, and is reminiscent of some of the old Porsche Speedster language with lines from Ghia’s open Focus (Turin 1992) and combines it with unexpected straight lines for a unique design language. You may well expect parts of this design, especially the front, to morph into the coming mini-Toyota being developed together with Peugeot/Citroen.

The designers also want to demonstrate their latest interior tricks. A system called Space Touch uses hologram projections which the driver is to ”touch” to activate certain sub-systems like air condition or infotainment. We hope it works better than some of the other recent man-machine interfaces the motorcar industry has offered us lately. And in case you wondered: CS&S means Compact Sports and Speciality.

	Toyota CS&S concept to debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show by Jon Winding-Sørensen
	Click for larger images	Sep 1, 2003 – Toyota understands very well that if you are presenting new or experimental technology you have to wrap it up spectacularly. Therefore, thankfully, we meet their latest hybrid drivetrain inside an attractive open four-seater and not in a Corolla or HiAce. Here we have a 1.5 litre petrol-engine in the rear, driving the rear wheels mechanically. At the same time it produces electrical current, either for storage or for driving the front-wheel hub-mounted electric-motors. That means, supposedly, that this car can use the whole range, from pure rear-driven, via fourwheel-drive with variable front/rear split, to pure electric-powered, zero-emission front wheel drive. All this in a compact, appearently, two seater barchetta. But lift the rear canopy and you have an open 2+2. Or use the front passenger seat as a Transformer and you have a tonneau cover when you park the car. The CS&S was designed at the Toyota ED2 studio near Nice, France, and is reminiscent of some of the old Porsche Speedster language with lines from Ghia’s open Focus (Turin 1992) and combines it with unexpected straight lines for a unique design language. You may well expect parts of this design, especially the front, to morph into the coming mini-Toyota being developed together with Peugeot/Citroen. The designers also want to demonstrate their latest interior tricks. A system called Space Touch uses hologram projections which the driver is to ”touch” to activate certain sub-systems like air condition or infotainment. We hope it works better than some of the other recent man-machine interfaces the motorcar industry has offered us lately. And in case you wondered: CS&S means Compact Sports and Speciality.