Toyoda talks up battery racer with old-school shifter

“YOU hear the engine noise inside the car and you have a manual transmission with a clutch.

“You truly do not notice you are driving an electric car – the only thing missing is the smell of gasoline.”

So says Toyota chairman Akio Toyoda in respect to a new-era project being undertaken by Gazoo Racing - an electric sports car prototype. With a manual gearbox.

Speaking to the website for the British motoring magazine Autocar, Toyoda has left impression the performance division is well into working on a 'fun to drive' high-performance electric GR.

However, there still seems to be uncertainty if the car will come to fruition.

Toyoda, for whom GR is a passion project - to point he has qualified to be a test driver and has also raced GR cars, most notably in the annual Nurburgring 24-hour production car race - says he has been personally involved with the car and seems highly enthused by the potentials.

He’s quoted as saying the “biggest difference to other BEVs (battery electric vehicles) we are developing is that, when you are in the GR BEV, you can actually hear the engine noises …

“There is also a manual transmission and also a clutch. If you put someone in the car and asked them to drive it and guess the powertrain, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell you.”

Toyota hasn’t formally announced the project but it previously revealed a model called the “Sports EV” – pictured today – along with a host of other concepts.

Additionally, Lexus is working on an all-electric LFA successor, and is also experimenting with ways to incorporate a manual transmission into electric vehicles – in one case, using a fake shifter and clutch to merely simulate this experience.

Electric cars generally divest of gearboxes because, strictly speaking, these are redundant. While internal combustion engines require multiple ratios to maintain in the power band, electric motors produce a constant amount of oomph, particularly torque, at any given revolutions, right from zero.

Current GR models are based on regular Toyota cars reliant on fossil-fuelled power plants. New Zealand has the best of the crop, with the GR Yaris, GR Corolla and GR Supra. It also gets GR Sport models, but they’re a different tribe.