Today, Toyota took the wraps off the long-rumored sports car it’s building with cooperation with Subaru. The FT-86 concept will be formally unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show on October 24th.
 
The FT-86 is engineered and styled by Toyota, but it uses a Subaru horizontally-opposed engine for a lower center of gravity and will be built by Subaru. (Toyota owns 17 percent of Subaru.)
 
The sports car will be rear-wheel drive and seat four. The engine will produce between 200 and 250 horsepower and use a six-speed manual gearbox. (No word on an automatic, yet.) Subaru’s 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine produces 170 hp in the Impreza, and between 265- and 305 hp in the turbocharged WRX and WRX STi, respectively. Toyota says the engine will be “at least” 2.0 liters. Subaru builds both turbocharged and non-turbo versions of a 2.0-liter engine overseas.
 
The FT-86 will be 163-inches long, 69 inches wide, and just shy of 50 inches tall -- about the size of a Nissan 370Z, with a slightly longer wheelbase of 101 in.
 
Toyota announced it would also unveil a new Prius plug-in for the Japanese market at the upcoming show. Larger batteries will improve the car’s fuel economy and enable an electric-only range of up to 12 miles at low speeds. But the gas engine will help propel the car under most circumstances, similarly to the current production Prius. Toyota claims the batteries can be charged in three hours on 100-volt current and half that on 200 volts.
 
—Eric Evarts