Toyota Alessandro Volta review

The hybrid takes a supercar disguise for promoting a new way of designing the environment friendly car of the future. “We have entered a new era. We have created a hybrid that has nothing to do with the typical electric power vehicle which so often flaunts rather unappealing characteristics”, Fabrizio Giugiaro asserts.

“When creating the volumes of this eco supercar, the idea at the back of my mind was to recapture the stylish features of the central-engine models, which I had already used with the BMW Nazca, the Alfa Romeo Scighera and the Volkswagen V 12, to demonstrate that if a racing shell can combine a “clean” and innovative propulsion system, the headroom for creating and designing environmentally-friendly sedan and compact cars of the future would be huge.”

Mindful of this, Alessandro Volta, the Italian physicist and discoverer of the voltaic pile, was called to bear witness to an exciting stage of automotive technological research, a momentum placing demands on the depth of resources required from automobile manufacturers to meet head-on pressing environmental issues such as gas emissions and the unrelenting consumption of oil-derivative products.

Italdesign-Giugiaro could not have chosen a more appropriate partner than Toyota for venturing into this theme of thought. As confirmed by Giorgetto Giugiaro: “We have been working with Toyota for more than 25 years. We are proud to have worked towards putting in place a hybrid prototype because the advanced expertise and commitment of the Nagoya Carmaker to mixed wheeldrive moves beyond day-to-day boundaries.”

Toyota furnished to Italdesign-Giugiaro a derivative of its ultimate hybrid system, the one adopted on the Lexus RX 400. On the Volta, the 3.3 liter V6 petrol engine is fitted behind the rear axle and not connected directly to the wheels. Indeed, motion is ensured by two electrically powered engines, one per axle thereby securing all-wheel drive and enhanced safety. As such, this epoch-making mechanical layout paves the way to eliminating the traditional transmission and gearbox longitudinal encumbrance. Indeed, operating electronics enable the power transmitted by the electric motors to the wheels to be modulated, thereby rendering superfluous the gear/clutch unit.

Housed under the lightweight, carbon-fiber chassis, designed and engineered by the Italdesign Giugiaro technical department, are the batteries, weighing 70 kg. Result: significantly leaner weight, balanced and encompassed between the axles, 300 kW/408 HP output, top speed limited at 250 km/h with acceleration from 0 to 100 km coming in 4.03 seconds.