Toyota FT-AC concept at LA 2017: an adventure holiday on wheels

Updated: 30 November 2017

► Toyota FT-AC concept at 2017 LA motor show
► Stands for Future Toyota Adventure Concept
► Aimed at outdoorsy types, concept only for now

This angry-looking creation is the Toyota FT-AC, which stands for Future Toyota Adventure Concept.

A show car designed to appeal to surfing/hiking/cycling/outdoorsy types, it makes its debut at the 2017 Los Angeles motor show. 

A multi-tool on wheels

Among the lifestyliest design details on the FT-AC are removable foglight pods can be used as portable lights, and a safari-style roofrack which features LED marker lights at its front corners to light off-road trails, or – more unusually – act as a flash for infrared cameras embedded in the side mirrors.

Toyota FT-AC

The cameras can also be removed, and there’s an integrated wi-fi hotspot so no adventure need go without being Instagrammed.

There are LED lights on the back of the roof rack too, helping to illuminate the retractable built-in bike rack.  

Genuine off-road ability

With a long wheelbase, wide track, extreme approach and departure angles, skidplates and 20-inch wheels with knobbly all-terrain tyres, the FT-AC looks like it can walk the walk off-road. It also features twin recovery hooks just in case theoretical owners were to bite off more than they can chew.

Toyota FT-AC

When does it hit the streets (or trails) for real?

As the name suggests, it’s a concept car. Unlike the suggestion of the ‘future’ bit in the name, it doesn’t preview an upcoming Toyota production car – it’s described as being ‘currently a design experiment.’

The FT-AC has, however, been engineered with a petrol all-wheel-drive powertrain in mind, with torque vectoring, terrain response traction control and throttle map settings and a four-wheel lock mode.

It’s also been packaged with the potential to take a hybrid powertrain.

Toyota FT-AC

Click here for our A-Z guide to the 2017 Los Angeles motor show

By James Taylor

Former features editor for CAR, occasional racer

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