Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE:TM) has gone the extra miles to make jaws drop with its latest electric concept vehicle that is made of wood.
The company is expected to reveal the vehicle at the Milan design week. The interesting concept car is called Setsuna which is Japanese for “Moment.” The name was a metaphor describing the short but memorable relationship between humans and their priced belongings such as cars.
The concept car was designed by the firm’s chief engineer Kenji Tsuji and fellow designer Kota Nezu. This is not their first collaborated effort as they previously teamed up to design the Toyota Camatte. The Setsuna concept car assumes the design of an Italian speed boat. It is curvaceous, and the design lines are created through a special Japanese technique known as “okuriari.” What’s interesting about it is that no nails or screws have been used to hold the pieces together, but it relies on the shaping of the wood to join the pieces.
The designers of the automobile claim that they decided to build a wooden frame with the future in mind. The frame is made of wood from Japanese Birch while the floor is made from Japanese zelkova. The exterior panels are crafted from Japanese cedar. Even the seats are wood products and are crafted using wood from a castor oil tree. The center console is made from Cyprus. . Forbes reported that the car run on a battery pack made of six 12-volt batteries and the vehicle has a top speed of 28 mph.
Judging by the contents of the vehicle, it is quite an impressive work of art. Toyota is not expected to sell the vehicle or mass produce it, but it will probably serve as a learning platform or end up in a museum. Nonetheless, the concept car is the perfect example of bridging the line between imagination, design and going where others view as impossible. The concept car is expected to challenge designers on new design concepts.