Just build it, fans say of Toyota 86 Shooting Brake

IF TOYOTA was fishing for a positive public reaction to its Australian-designed 86 Shooting Brake Concept before deciding on its potential for production, it has it.

The internet is awash with global reports of the three-door wagonette version of the 86 sports coupe, with Google reporting more than 400,000 search results, including coverage in countless motoring and mainstream news publications and blogs, from Sweden to Vietnam.

Even Russia’s venerable state-run news service, Pravda, and New York’s Daily News carried reports of the Toyota Australia creation, speculating on whether it was destined for production Officially, Toyota says it has no plans to produce the car, although Toyota 86 global chief engineer Tetsuya Tada said when the vehicle was revealed last week that he would like see it become a production reality.

Tellingly, Mr Tada said Toyota wanted to gauge public reaction to the concept.

Although some Toyota 86 fans have dissed the design as too conservative, the reaction from motoring experts at respected publications appears to have been overwhelmingly positive.

Says Britain’s Car: “The Toyota GT86 Shooting Brake is a one-off and, sadly, is not destined for production any time soon. Which is a shame: we're intrigued by the neatly incorporated rear end, topped with a nifty wraparound spoiler spurring out of the sharply angled C-pillar.” Top Gear says that with the concept, Toyota is showing it can “still go a little bit mad”, adding that it had “fingers crossed” for production.

At Autoblog, writer Alex Kierstein gave the design the thumbs up, saying: “Maybe if we all make enough noise together Toyota will make it a reality.” Jalopnik added its voice to the calls: “Think about it. It works. They can do it. You want to buy it. And drift it. The Toyota 86 Shooting Brake needs to happen.” In its coverage, Jalopnik carried photos of the concept being unveiled by Toyota Australia at Canberra’s Sutton Road Driver Training Centre where the car was shown to Toyota 86 owners as part of the Toyota-sponsored Festival of 86 last weekend.

“Father of the 86” Mr Tada was guest of honour at the festival – a gathering of more than 400 Toyota sportscar fans and their cars from across Australia.

The third such festival to be staged in Australia, the event was used by Toyota to formally launch its one-make Toyota 86 Racing Series that will kick off at the V8 Supercar round at Winton, Victoria, on May 20-22.

The 86 Shoot Brake concept – a drivable vehicle with full 86 running gear – was shipped to Australia from Japan where it was made by the Toyota global sports car division to a design crafted in Melbourne by Toyota Australia’s Product Design team headed by Nicolas Hogios The car is now due to be shipped back to Japan.