Iwata, Japan - Yamaha's display at the 2015 Tokyo motor show from 29 October to 8 November will feature no fewer than 20 exhibits, and one of them is a car!
But all we have for now as regards the concept car is the teaser image you see here, showing a very compact mid-engined berlinetta - and one tantalising clue.
Yamaha's media release calls the concept the 4Wheeler, saying it's “inspired by motorcycles”, but the image is labelled T40. Now, if you cast your mind back to the 2013 Tokyo show, you'll recall a car concept called the Motiv, which was co-created by Yamaha and legendary South African Formula One designer Gordon Murray.
CITY-CAR PROJECT
That was inspired by a long-standing Yamaha involvement in Gordon Murray Design's T25 city car project. At the time Murray said the T25's modular architecture and his iStream production process could be adapted to a variety of models, including a small sports-car.
Murray has always code-named his iStreamed-based projects beginning with a T, and there is a rumour buzzing around the cybergarage that he is currently working on something called T40. It's not too much of a stretch to suggest this might be that project.
The Motiv had a three-cylinder 1-litre Yamaha engine, so it's logical to assume that the 4Wheeler will be much the same - but we'll go one step further and suggest that the concept could have a lightweight turbocharged 660cc four based on the stonking 599cc Yamaha R6 sports-bike engine, which would be good for at least 120kW and make the concept street-legal under Japanese kei-car rules.
At the moment that's all pure speculation, but as soon as Yamaha releases more details of the 4Wheeler, we promise to come back and tell you how wrong we were.
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