Patent Scoop: Is Toyota Readying Sports Version of the iQ?

During the world premiere of the new Toyota 86 sports coupe at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show, the firm's global President Akio Toyoda made it crystal clear that his company is committed to produce more 'fun-to-drive' cars in the near future.

But don’t take it from us, read what Toyoda said:

"Today it is said that young people have little interest in cars as there are much more interesting things. As an automobile maker, I find this quite frustrating. It is for this reason that we are committed to making cars that will evoke this feeling of 'fun to drive, again' in as many people as possible. This is Toyota's declaration."

While the 86 is the only real sports car in Toyota's current range, we would like to think that Toyoda wouldn't make such a statement without standing behind it, which is why we found these official patent images of a sported up iQ (sold as a Scion in North America) very interesting.

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Toyota Readying Some Mild Model Year Changes for Land Cruiser 100 / V8?

The images you see here and which are circulating around the net today, are said to have been sourced from a leaked JDM brochure of the 2012 Toyota Land Cruiser (marketed as the 100 or V8 in certain markets to distinguish it from the smaller Land Cruiser Prado).

While we do, of course, remain somewhat skeptical, they do appear to be genuine. The opening picture shows the Land Cruiser 100 kitted out with original Toyota accessories, but it appears that the headlights and the chrome grille have been tweaked.

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2012 Toyota FT 86 - New Photos Surface Online

2012 Toyota FT 86 - New Photos Surface Online

When we brought you the first brochure images of the production version of the JDM Toyota FT-86 coupe on Thursday, we rightfully assumed that we should see more pictures of the rear-wheel drive model in the coming weeks before the official presentation at the 2011 Tokyo Motor Show on November 30. Better make that a little over 24 hours as we just discovered yet another collection of scanned images on a Japanese forum, providing us with an even better look at the exterior design of Toyota's mainstream sports car.
While the previous photos showed us a Modellista-prepped version, this time we have the standard FT-86 with or without some optional accessories such as the front panel air vent trims and rear diffuser accents.
We can't say that we understand what's written in the brochure (any help from our Japanese readers would be appreciated), but in one page it is evident that Toyota says that the styling of the FT-86's window line is inspired by the classic 2000GT from the late 1960's.
As we've previously reported, the FT-86 will go on sale worldwide next year with a single engine option, a Subaru-sourced 2.0-liter boxer engine hooked up to either a standard six-speed manual gearbox or an optional 6sp automatic transmission.

Head down to check out the latest pictures plus a couple of videos we found on the FT-86 by Gazoo Racing from this month's VLN endurance racing championship at the Nürburgring circuit.

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