Toyota announced on March 4 that one of its concept cars will debut at the Salone del Mobile.Milano, otherwise known as the Milan Design Week, which will be held on April 12 to 17. Toyota will be unveiling its wooden electric car which was designed to mimic the look of a roadster.
The fully electric vehicle's body is made of wood, such as the Japanese cedar and birch, because it remains resilient even as it changes over time- a quality that the company wants to showcase.
Toyota has focused on manufacturing family cars as much as personal ones so it makes sense that, in spite of the roadster design, the company has the notion of "family" in mind when it developed the unique and stylish wooden car. The wooden car is named "Setsuna," which means "moment" in Japanese, to reflect not only its aesthetic but also to preserve the symbol and value of moments in car owners' lives.
"Toyota is expressing the notion that, as a family accrues time and experiences together with their car, lovingly caring for it and passing it on to the next generation, that car will acquire a new type of value that only the members of that family can appreciate [...] these collective moments make their cars irreplaceable to their owners," the company explains.
Another interesting thing to note about Setsuna's design is that nails and screws are missing because Engineer Kenji Tsuji, the person responsible for overseeing Setsuna's design, opted to turn to the Japanese art of okuriari, which is a method of joining beams and lintels perfectly without the need to use nails and screws.
Engr. Tsuji says the Setsuna has a 100 year meter and that time frame would allow it to be passed onto the next few generations, thereby realizing Toyota's aim for it be the bearer of valuable memories.
Setsuna already has a schedule for Milan Design Week which will be held at Via Tortona 31, Milan, beginning with Media Day on April 11 when the members of the media will have access to it from 11 AM to 6PM. The actual exhibition for the public will be from April 12 to 17 and viewing times are from 11AM until 9PM.
