Yamaha Motor Co. is bringing a concept car to the Tokyo auto show later this month. The company best known for its motorcycles and powersports vehicles revealed few details other than that it will be an “automobile design concept,” but here’s hoping for a follow-up to 2015’s Sports Ride concept.
The Sports Ride concept was an ultralight two-seat sports car based around the iStream manufacturing process designed by Gordon Murray, the designer of the McLaren F1. That process features extensive use of carbon fiber and is said to dramatically lower the cost of vehicle production. The iStream platform consists of a lightweight, high-strength chassis that accommodates multiple body styles by bonding different composite panels to the frame.
The Sports Ride concept weighed in at just 750 kg and was around 153.5 inches long, or just slightly longer than a Lotus Exige. No details on the powertrain were given, but Autocar says Yamaha is developing the engine, which could be a tuned version of the turbocharged 1.0-liter three-cylinder that debuted in the Yamaha Motiv concept. Both the Motiv and the Sports Ride were based on the same iStream platform.
Yamaha will also bring an updated version of its motorcycle-riding robot, a four-wheeled electric mobility concept, and a futuristic motorcycle prototype that looks like it was plucked from the cyberpunk world of Akira.