MONTEREY, Calif -- Instead of wild and fun, Toyota just showed off a more sophisticated side to its FT-1 concept.

The mere fact that Toyota made a second FT-1, shown here to well-heeled crowd in an aircraft hanger, increases the likelihood that it may come to production. And no, it's not being called the FT-2.

This is serious stuff: When it the earlier one was shown in Detroit in January, some suggested that it come mark the revival of the Toyota Supra.

In January, it drew comparisons to being a more sophisticated version of the fun little Scion FR-S. The car was racy red with a black interior. To dress it up for the Pebble Beach shows here, the car is now a gray gunmetal color with saddle-leather upholstery.

"There were so many requests for the car we wanted to see it in a different color, with a different interior," says Alex Shen, studio chief designer at Toyota's Calty Design center in Newport Beach, Calif.

The new look gives the car a whole new vibe -- making it more of a competitor against luxury sports cars.

"We wanted to create a deeper sense of emotion," says William Chergosky, who designed the interior. To do it, says he resisted to design "with my head and designed with my heart."

The leather look wasn't just limiteed to appearance. Instead of new-car smell, the interior has the scent of a walk through a saddle and tack store in horse country. "It's a little more sophisticated," Chergosky says.

Which one does Chen prefer? Predictably, he isn't ready to choose among his children.

"To me, they both look great," he says.

Toyota is dropping a not-so-subtle hint this week that its push for a new sports car as a spiritual successor to the Supra are alive and well.

In an unusual move, the company built a second copy of its FT-1 concept car, this time dressed in gray pain rather than the red it had during the surprise debut last January in Detroit. This time, the interior is revised with more premium-looking materials better suited to the environment and on-lookers at Pebble Beach.

But aside from that, news about the car is sparse at best. Official details about the powertrain and pricing are still unavailable although Toyota is expected to price the production car somewhere around $60,000 when it arrives.

August 20, 2014

Sellene Lee has plenty of other interests besides cars. And that might be her greatest strength as a creative designer in Calty Color and Trim department.

Lee’s passion isn’t for what’s under a vehicle’s hood, but for what’s between its doors. And her work on the interior of the FT-1 Concept is turning heads.

Yes, there’s an inside to the FT-1. You may not have realized that, considering so much of the car’s buzz surrounds its sleek body. But Lee and her team developed an interior befitting the power of the car’s exterior. And, as the second FT-1 showed us last week, a simple color change can create a completely different concept within a car. It’s still the exact same car, but suddenly, the FT-1 has gone from super hero noir to plush luxury. That’s what Lee had in mind when she switched the interior’s dominant color from black to tan.

Lee was born in Seoul, South Korea, and came to the United States after graduating college. Outside of work, she’s turns furniture into art to display in Southern California galleries. She’s also a pretty huge movie buff. And all that went into creating a dynamic interior design for both FT-1 Concepts.

We sat down with Sellene to talk about the FT-1 and its super hero roots.

How did the FT-1’s powerful interior come about?
Each team, after the research, comes up with a key story for the whole project. For my team, I researched and came up with my own inspiration for color and trim based on super heroes. Mostly when I get my inspiration, it’s spontaneous. The new Superman poster for “Man of Steel” just grabbed my eye. I thought it was interesting to see how super hero costumes evolved over time. That was the seed. After that I researched the oldest super hero costumes and just took them as inspiration.

So Superman’s history was the inspiration for the original concept?
Yes! Before, the super hero costume was color-coded tights. It was interesting to see the “Man of Steel” poster. It’s very monotone, not just blue and red anymore. And you have all these intricate details. It’s a very interesting evolution of the Superman costume. We kept talking about the FT-1 interior being like a superhero suit that optimized the functionality of the driver. So I thought, ‘If I take the inspiration from the new super hero costume, I can apply it to the color theme of the FT-1.’

How does the super hero theme mesh with the rest of the interior?
The super hero costume is about optimizing the super heroes. The original color scheme is very monotone, black with a touch of red with an accent function. We wanted the driver’s seat to be comfortable so we used a soft, natural grain leather for where the driver touches with his body. The rest, we wanted to make it very functional.


Showing Off – One of Lee’s proudest moments at Toyota was the crowd’s reaction at the FT-1’s January debut in Detroit.

What are the interior differences between the first FT-1 Concept and the one unveiled last week?
The first version is very raw, masculine and sporty. But just by changing the color, you can see how much the product can change in perception. The color makes the product more premium. We were thinking maybe some people really want this sporty car, but they’re more comfortable with an upscale image. So we tried to make this version upscale but with a minimum amount of changes.

What was your favorite part of the FT-1 design process?
It was really fun for me because it was the first time all of our team members worked together in the research phase. Designing a car is different from designing furniture or something smaller scale. In order to make one car, you need a lot of different talents working together. So no one can be the product’s sole owner. I don’t have an automotive design background, so I brought a different perspective. I really enjoyed working with and learning from so many car enthusiasts. It was a really fun collaboration.

Do your other interests help you in your job?
My background is product design, so I have always been into smaller-scale design. But the auto industry wants a fresh perspective, and my background helps me infuse fresh ideas. I love design and art and music. Those different perspectives in the design world are helping me do this job now.

By Dan Nied