Yamaha has launched a new sports car at the Tokyo motor show, with the car's underpinnings created by McLaren F1 designer Gordon Murray. The Japanese motorcycle manufacturer has released few details about the car, although it is known that the car is called the Yamaha SPORTS RIDE CONCEPT and that Murray has pioneered a new variation of his iStream manufacturing system to create it using radical new carbonfibre technology. However, Murray is not behind the concept car's design, which was led by ex-Toyota designer Dezi Nagaya.
While the previous concept took the shape of a city car, the new one embodies the characteristics of a sports car with an ultra-low 750 kg (1,653 lbs) weight and a body measuring 3,900 mm long, 1,720 mm wide and 1,170 mm tall. This is a two-seater that according to Yamaha offers a driver-machine relationship similar to a motorcycle and uses an adaptation of the iStream manufacturing system developed by Gordon Murray.
"It took about five months from design to realisation," said Nagaya, who worked with a Japanese-English design group called Design & Realizations, based in Shizuoka. Nagaya also strongly credited Gordon Murray Design for its part in the project, and highlighted several design touches that had been inspired by Yamaha motorbikes.
There’s no word at this point about what powers the concept, but it could be a small 3-cylinder 1.0-liter engine taken from the MOTIV.e where it was believed to develop 70 - 80 hp. That doesn’t sound overly impressive, but given car’s lightweight construction, it should still be a fun and nimble machine.
