#8. Toyota A-Bat – Environmentally Friendly, Visually Passive Aggressive
Source: Wikimedia
Toyota took a big swing and received a big miss when they came up with the A-Bat. They could never quite manage to figure out what the A-Bat was supposed to be. Throw in some ugly styling and voila. The gap between what Toyota was thinking and what they produced as a concept is seemingly huge.
What Toyota Was Thinking
What’s interesting about the A-Bat is that it takes its styling cues not from other previous Toyota concepts, but from failing competitor vehicles! The Honda Ridgeline was one of Honda’s more mundane efforts, but Toyota styled the A-Bat after a very similar feel.
Toyota wanted a truck that didn’t look like a truck. They wanted to appeal to the cult following of the El Camino and perhaps create a modern version that people would get behind. Also, since 2007 was a time for green technology to be more prevalent, Toyota needed to show off some of their environmentally friendly ideas.
The first introduction was their new hybrid 4 cylinder. This was actually a good sign. Hybrids and electric engines can be very beneficial in the right circumstances. The second environmental feature they wanted to put in was two small solar panels on the dashboard. To accommodate for those panels, along sloping windshield would be required.
Source: Flickr
What the Public Thought Of It
The A-Bat never went into production. THere’s a really good reason for it. People didn’t like it. It was too big to be a car, too small to be a proper truck. The weird but somehow boring lumpish exterior gave way to a futuristic edgy interior. This juxtaposition really didn’t work on the vehicle. The immense windshield slope was awkward.
The solar panels felt like pandering to the environmental crowd. If it’s solar panel technology that can be useful, why not place it on the roof or develop some strong enough to fit in the truck bed. Solar panels that could actually be useful for powering vehicle accessories instead of those two tiny ones would make more sense.
Finally and bafflingly, Toyota chose to turn the rear end into a chest of drawers. People were somewhat baffled why they would waste this space. Why not just increase the size of the bed of the truck? Instead, there’s a small enclosed drawer that pulls out about 1 foot across the width of it. Some concepts just need to stay in the mind.
