It's called the FT-HS, and it is one radical concept car. It's a two-seat sports car that fuses new directions in design with low-emissions, Toyota hybrid power. The FT-HS ("Future Toyota-Hybrid Sports car") was introduced to the world just days ago at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, looking as if it were ready for the road (production is a distant maybe). Which begs the question: How does something this cool get from the designers' gray matter to an auto-show stage? Not easily. It's an intensive process of controlled chaos, cooperation, and competition, explains Alex Shen, Project Chief Designer at Calty, Toyota's California design studio. Shen headed up the FT-HS exterior design team. The idea for a North American concept car, says Shen, can come from Calty, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.'s Advanced Product Strategy Group, or from design headquarters in Japan. For this one, states Shen, "We all came to the same conclusion at the same time."
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