Clock and car, that's sometimes a special combination. Bentley offers as an option a mechanical Breitling on the dashboard; in the mini convertible, there is a solar hour meter, which measures the travel time with the roof open; and the Toyota Setsuna study incorporates a kind of eternity knife. Its small hand indicates the hours and completes one turn per day. The big hand measures the days and turns around once a year. And the roller indicator in the middle of the clock face counts the years - only after 999 years does it jump back to zero. The Message of the Chronographer: This is a car for eternity.
At the same time the Toyota Setsuna is a car made of wood, at least for the most part. There are also some components made of aluminum, of course, classic car components such as shock absorbers or tires, thin leather pads on the wooden seats and - as a drive - two electric machines and six lead batteries. The two-seater Roadster was presented during the design week in Milan in the spring of 2016. Toyota, an automaker that stands for bone-dry realism and humorless pragmatism like no other brand, would have expected such a romantic-playful construct probably the last.
And the Setsuna study is not just a small, pretty, smart wooden roadster, but above all a statement of longevity, care and naturalness. That's why, chief engineer Kenji Tsuji said at the premiere, the car was built as much as possible out of wood. It should not be another fashionable disposable product, as many modern cars are today. The study should be a thing of permanence. A car for several generations. A car that will look like its age over time. Its components darken, be scored and repaired. A technical device with a life of its own.
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Nice thing: the most bizarre car design studiesThe clearest indication is the special timepiece in a central position on the dashboard. Speaking of Brett: The choice of wood also makes the long-term ambitions of the development team clear. So that the vehicle does not rot prematurely, for example, the extremely hard wood of the elm Zelkove was used for the floor assembly. Birch was used for the frame, cedar for the body, Sen-Esche for the seats and Cypress for the steering wheel. In part, the wood is natural, in part it was treated in an elaborate rubbing process with glaze.
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Jürgen Pander
Unique !: The most bizarre concept cars
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The Setsuna is a driving car. The top speed is 45 km / h, the range at about 30 kilometers. But that is only marginally interesting in this case. High-tech drives and electronic bike trim already offer enough other prototypes. The wooden roadster from Toyota, on the other hand, is supposed to be an example of Japanese craftsmanship alongside its durability. "Okuriari" is the name of the method according to which the body's 86 cedar planks are attached to the birch frame. It is a plug-in system with wedge-shaped grooves and springs, through which the parts are on the one hand firmly connected to each other, but on the other hand can also be quickly separated from each other; about to replace damaged boards.
Do cars have to become more timeless to stay attractive?
What impact does the Toyota Setsuna have on the car world? So far, this can not be seen, but since the premiere of the vehicle, only three and a half years have passed. Toyota said back then that the concept car Setsuna would redefine the idea of cars. In what way that could happen, did not tell Toyota. But maybe that will happen over time as well: if carmakers may choose to plan and construct longer term, more durable, sustainable ones.
The Setsuna is currently parked in the Japanese design center of Toyota. The built-in clock is ticking away and when you look at the display, it seems like there is still a lot of time left to make cars fundamentally different.