The most powerful UTV in the world is a Toyota? Toyota’s U.S. design team has built and revealed a SEMA show concept called the Scion 01. It’s an old name, but a new product: A UTV with the turbo-four and hybrid system out of a Tacoma pickup.
I-Force Max Goes Wild
Thanks to its Tacoma i-Force Max hybrid engine and motor, this UTV makes more than 300 horsepower. And unless Toyota has detuned the system, it should make an incredible 465 pound-feet of torque. Move over, Kawasaki Teryx5 H2, the current king of the most powerful UTV at “just” 250 horsepower.
Toyota’s designers and engineers built a completely new platform for this rig. The chassis has an FIA-compliant roll cage that the automaker says is compatible with SCORE racing rules as well.
Long Suspension Travel, Toyota Parts
The four-seater looks massive, even wearing 32-inch Maxxis Carnivore tires. It needs to be big to fit Toyota’s 2.4L engine, hybrid motor, and battery. And while Toyota doesn’t mention it, this probably has the Taco’s beefy eight-speed auto instead of a much more compact CVT typical of other UTVs.
Toyota throws around buzzphrases like “exceptional suspension articulation, balanced track width, and a nimble footprint for tight trails,” but it hasn’t provided any specs for how much travel or articulation the Scion 01 will offer.
This gets more than just a Toyota engine. The concept includes Toyota suspension and brake parts, though it didn’t say exactly which.
Why would Toyota dip into the UTV space? “The Scion 01 Concept is about taking what we do best at Toyota and blending it with the passions that drive us,” said Don Federico, chief engineer and vice president of Vehicle Performance Development. “It’s the intersection of advanced performance and our deep enthusiasm for adventure.”
Toyota Scion 01 Concept: Because It’s Fun
In short, the company wanted to do something fun. So it did. That’s the mindset that has brought us cars like the Toyota GR Corolla and the many TRD Pro Toyota trucks and SUVs. So anything that helps keep them happy is OK in our books.
There’s no plan to produce the Scion 01, at least not one that Toyota is saying out loud. This is a concept vehicle. It’s meant as a creative outlet, but also to show that hybrid technology can make mobility cleaner and better off-road as well as on. It’s sure a lot more interesting than the last vehicles to wear a Scion badge, a pair of oddball, underpowered subcompacts.
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