Toyota to reveal hybrid 86 with 400hp?

Hybrids are usually popular among the leaf-loving set as efficient and low-emissions vehicles. Yet a hybrid can also be one heck of a race car, as evidenced by the success at Le Mans of Toyota and Audi with their hybrids. Toyota is set to bank on the technology for a new sports car, called Hybrid-R.

The R part comes from Toyota’s technology as used on the TS030 Hybrid that raced at Le Mans. The car used supercapacitors to store energy that can later be fed to an electric motor. Toyota says that it will install the technology in a current Toyota production model. The car will then have a high-power internal combustion engine paired with electric motors, for a total of more than 400hp. A dual-mode system will allow the car to switch from road to racetrack mode. Based on the photo, and on the fact there’s only one Toyota sports car at the moment, we think that an electrically-supercharged 86 will be on the stand at the Frankfurt Motor Show.