Thursday, August 23, 2012

2008 Toyota A-BAT Concept: A Concept Car that Should've Made it

Newton

Trucks keep getting bigger. Fuel prices remain high. What truck lovers the world over need is a capable, small pickup—something akin to the mini trucks of the 1970s and '80s.

Toyota created just such a concept with the 2008 Toyota A-BAT concept truck. It's difficult to judge the size of the A-BAT from a photo, but with an overall length of just 181.3 inches, it measured a foot shorter than a typical midsize sedan. The lightweight, compact truck used the gas–electric hybrid drive system from the Toyota Prius.

To give such a small vehicle good hauling capacity (and let it carry items longer than 90 inches), the A-BAT had a deep pickup-style box and a midgate that opened a clear passageway between the cab's interior and the exterior bed (a la the Chevrolet Avalanche).

This is one of those "What are you waiting for" ideas.

-Courtesy of Popular Mechanics

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