Do motorcycle companies know a thing or two on making fun cars? We all know Honda made tonnes of them, in fact Suzuki’s popular Swift is joy and practicality combined – just like yin and yang. In Europe, Austrian motorcycle maker KTM showed the world their version of “fun with two extra wheels” with the KTM X-Bow. Now, Yamaha is hopping onto the bandwagon with the unveiling of their Sports Car Concept at the 2015 Tokyo Motorshow.
The Sports Car Concept is essentially Yamaha’s follow up to the Motiv city car revealed in the 2013 Tokyo Motorshow. The true innovation of this car goes to the inclusion of Gordon Murray’s iStream production process, a known method of manufacturing light cars at low cost. Despite not being designed by the man who crafted the legendary McLaren F1 himself, some valuable inputs from Murray point towards a really special vehicle from Yamaha. When I said special, you ought to know that this car weighs a mind boggling 770kg, thanks to a radically new carbon fibre technology.
Although no details have been revealed on the powertrain as yet, the concept is expected to be propelled by a 1.0-litre three cylinder engine. But given Yamaha’s solid record of creating loud and fast automotive engines (Lexus and Toyota will nod to that), it’s safe to expect something magical from this one.
As much we enjoy the looks of this whimsical concept, sadly, Yamaha has no plans to make into production. Perhaps time will tell if we will get a small fun lightweight coupe that brought smiles at every corner or if it’s just another easily forgettable concept like the Motiv city car.
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