J-TACS Toyota 86 Concept J

 

Following the interesting concept release earlier this year of the Concept 86xCb which had an aura of upmarket direction and grand luxury, Toyota last weekend on August 4th, released to the public for display, another concept.

This time a in-house design think-tank entity called "J-TACS" nestled in the branch called Toyota Conversion Vehicle Design took charge of its creation, lead by the Creative Department's general manager, Mr.Kitada, and his talented coordinators Mr. Hirago and Ms.Kubo.

The new concept car has a mysterious name of "Concept J" and is said to be referencing the fact that it is created in Japan, hence letter "J"
Weird name aside and in contrast to the name, however, the finished concept has a much more Urban American influenced look in my view.

The body is meticulously coated in an uncommon Toyota choice of sandy shade of matte bronze-tan paint, and standing on a monoblock black set of wheels.

Overall, the car looks nicely fit and capable of magnetically attracting lots of sneaky, gazing eyes at a valet of many of the hippest Club Scene in Hollywood, and much more so than say, in Roppongi.  That is to say, also, that it will seem in-tune with the current SEMA debut cars of this past few years as well.

Upon closer look, the front grill has been carved out prominently between the headlights, and forward canted lower grill almost having the Lexus snout.  The lower diffuser integrated into the entire skirt line of the car is very tasteful, and in key to many of the more upper end aftermarket designs.  The blacked out rear mask trimmed with a color-keyed under-diffuser is also something we have not seen yet, even among the many kits available now outside Toyota.

Interior has been simply cleaned up, and fitted with a much more street level comfort goods and trim, some subtle changes in material and color, but overall very near what is feasible as production concept, so nothing crazy here.  Just a lot of taste and fit/finish above and beyond the original normal Toyota 86.

There wasn't much discussion of whether this will make production as special version, or parts of it becoming a regular option or add-on from Toyota's Japanese sales channels.
However, with the concept staying very near what is feasible for production car, seemingly, time will only tell.

We need to also keep in mind that J-TACS who is the key to all this, is also the entity responsible for something much more familiar with people in North America.  That is, J-TACS is also the mastermind behind most of the recent "Release Series" designs for Scion, such as the recent 10th Anniversary Models, as well as previous few such as the Scion tC RS8 and RS7.

So who knows!   It is being 'loosely' confirmed that it will make a American Debut at SEMA with further refinement and still as a concept.

As a side note, the wheels fitted to this car was sourced in the USA from HRE and Audio upgrades custom fitted and DSP timing, trim and staging, re-tuned for the right hand drive + carbon driver configuration, by none other than the master of the sonic-crafting for the FT86, Sandy Lirag of OEM AUDIO+ and its famous Reference 400 based in Corona, California.
Toyota Global is selectively hearing your opinions.   🙂

August 6th, 2013  - Moto Miwa, Club4AG

Concept Brochure from the event.

Hundreds of Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ fans gather at the presentation of "Dorikin Street AE86,"  and the Style J Concept.

Lena Katsumata, a DJ/Fashion Model, poses with the Area86 Style fashion wear presented along with the Concept Style J.