The 74th Geneva Motor Show gets underway tomorrow and the Toyota Volta, which was designed by ItalDesign-Giugiaro, will surely be one the event’s biggest starts.
The 74th Geneva Motor Show gets underway tomorrow and the Toyota Volta, which was designed by ItalDesign-Giugiaro, will surely be one the event’s biggest starts.
In the weeks leading up to the show, CARtoday.com brought you several previews of the event’s biggest stars. This week, we will bring you more details and pictures of BMW’s 5 Series Touring and M5, Alfa 156 Crossover, Opel Tigra and Mercedes-Benz SLK roadsters and Mini Cabriolet, the Rinspeed Splash, Fiat Trepiuno, Mazda MX Flexa and many others.
The Toyota Volta hybrid-powered coupé pictured here has a total output of 304 kW from a combination of an internal combustion engine and two electric motors mounted on the front and rear axles. The hybrid is destined for the Lexus RX400.
ItalDesign named the 4,3m-long coupé after Alessandro Volta, the Italian scientist who invented the electric battery.
“The hybrid engine can provide great power and great performance, so I tried to pen a body that would express this dynamism,” said Fabrizio Giugiaro, head of Italdesign’s styling and model division, who was responsible for the Volta’s look.
According to a report, the Volta can travel 700 km on 7,5 litres of petrol. It does 250 km/h and accelerates from 0 to 100 km/h in 4,06 seconds.
The 3,3-litre V6 engine is mounted near the rear axle. Since there are no transmission shafts or exhaust tubes that necessitate a central tunnel in the car, ItalDesign designed the 2m-wide Volta to have a flat floor with room for three passengers.
ItalDesign, in addition to the styling, added a carbonfibre chassis and racing-style front and rear suspensions and Brembo provided its ceramic composite-material brakes.