The Toyota Mirai is one of the most polarizing cars on sale, and that fact it’s a 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.
MotorTrend features 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 is today, 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.
