The 2021 Toyota Mirai Might Turn Out Pretty Enough to Make You Forget the Old One
A camouflaged production model looks very similar to the wild Mirai concept car.
The Toyota Mirai is one of the most polarizing cars on sale, and that fact it'sa hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) has surprisingly little to do with that. Call us shallow, but just look at the thing. Even though the word "mirai" means "the future" in Japanese, the current 'Yota FCV looks like it was inspired by some kind of prehistoric fish monster and then partially chewed up by that very same creature. Luckily, Toyota is giving the futuristic, hydrogen-fueled car a full clean-sheet redesign, as previewed by the Lexus-like 2021 Mirai concept—and we've now gathered proof that the production model will hew closely to that show car's knockout styling.
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MotorTrendfeatures editor Scott Evans was driving through downtown Los Angeles this week when he captured the images of the camouflaged Toyota-like vehicle you see here. After comparing the photos to those of the 2021 Toyota Mirai concept, we're highly confident this is the production-ready 2021 Mirai.
According to Evans, the mule was about the size—overall length and width—of an Avalon. But the roof has a much steeper rake to it than the current Avalon's, much like the well-received Mirai concept. The front also looks long and low, just like it did on the concept, aligning with other Mirai-style flourishes such as the thin, wide taillights; triangulated butt stampings, and multi-spoke turbine-style wheels. This is all good news, both because none of these features come together to resemble the outgoing Mirai, but do look a lot like the attractive Mirai concept.
We also think that, by not going full weird as it did with the old Mirai, Toyota has a shot at drawing more positive attention to fuel-cell technology. (Essentially, hydrogen is used as fuel to create electricity through a process of stripping the molecules of their electrons, which the car uses to power the drive wheels and onboard electrics—giving off only water vapor as a byproduct.) This is important for Toyota because the automaker believes fuel cell technology will one day be as commonplace as gas-electric hybrid tech istoday, although with limited hydrogen fueling infrastructure—limited largely to southern California—and the technology's cost, FCVs likely aren't going mainstream anytime soon.
So, when will the new Mirai make its debut? Toyota has claimed the production fuel-cell sedan would come in late 2020, although that was declared before the current health crisis grinded the world's manufacturing to a temporary halt. We reached out to Toyota for comment on any possible delays, and it says there won't be any. The Mirai is still slated to come out by the end of this year, and now we have an even better idea of just how close the production version will be to that gorgeous concept car.
Were you one of those kids who taught themselves to identify cars at night by their headlights and taillights? I was. I was also one of those kids with a huge box of Hot Wheels and impressive collection of home-made Lego hot rods. I asked my parents for a Power Wheels Porsche 911 for Christmas for years, though the best I got was a pedal-powered tractor. I drove the wheels off it. I used to tell my friends I’d own a “slug bug” one day. When I was 15, my dad told me he would get me a car on the condition that I had to maintain it. He came back with a rough-around-the-edges 1967 Volkswagen Beetle he’d picked up for something like $600. I drove the wheels off that thing, too, even though it was only slightly faster than the tractor. When I got tired of chasing electrical gremlins (none of which were related to my bitchin’ self-installed stereo, thank you very much), I thought I’d move on to something more sensible. I bought a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT and got my first speeding ticket in that car during the test drive. Not my first-ever ticket, mind you. That came behind the wheel of a Geo Metro hatchback I delivered pizza in during high school. I never planned to have this job. I was actually an aerospace engineering major in college, but calculus and I had a bad breakup. Considering how much better my English grades were than my calculus grades, I decided to stick to my strengths and write instead. When I made the switch, people kept asking me what I wanted to do with my life. I told them I’d like to write for a car magazine someday, not expecting it to actually happen. I figured I’d be in newspapers, maybe a magazine if I was lucky. Then this happened, which was slightly awkward because I grew up reading Car & Driver, but convenient since I don’t live in Michigan. Now I just try to make it through the day without adding any more names to the list of people who want to kill me and take my job.
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