MOTORING NEWS - Toyota's recent concept car, the Setsuna, is to debut at Milan Design Week happening from 12-17 April. The Toyota Setsuna is a drivable open-top two-seater roadster predominantly made from wood.
The Setsuna is meant to symbolise how cars undergo a gradual transformation over the years, as if absorbing the aspirations, memories and emotions of multiple generations of a family.
Toyota says that the reason to use wood as the primary material for Setsuna’s construction was to express the notion that love grows as time passes, and changes in colour and feel in direct response to the love and care shown to it.
With the Setsuna concept, 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.
With the Setsuna concept, 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.
The car's name – Setsuna, meaning 'moment' in Japanese – was chosen to reflect that people experience precious, fleeting moments together with their cars. Toyota believes that, over time, these collective moments make their cars irreplaceable to their owners.
Handmade panels
However, the Setsuna is not a piece of furniture – it is a fully functioning car, although not road-legal. For this reason, different types of wood were chosen for specific parts of the vehicle – including Japanese cedar, with its vivid grain and flexibility for the exterior panels; strong and rigid Japanese birch for the frame; hard-wearing Japanese zelkova for the seats; and smooth-textured castor aralia for the seats.
However, the Setsuna is not a piece of furniture – it is a fully functioning car, although not road-legal. For this reason, different types of wood were chosen for specific parts of the vehicle – including Japanese cedar, with its vivid grain and flexibility for the exterior panels; strong and rigid Japanese birch for the frame; hard-wearing Japanese zelkova for the seats; and smooth-textured castor aralia for the seats.
The panels feature different grain patterns in the cedar, achieved with straight and cross-cutting of the raw timber, creating attractive contrasts.
The concept of an 'accumulation of moments' is expressed through the vehicle’s radial, circular emblem. While giving the impression of a blooming flower, the design also evokes the appearance of a clock that shows each individual moment.
The concept of an 'accumulation of moments' is expressed through the vehicle’s radial, circular emblem. While giving the impression of a blooming flower, the design also evokes the appearance of a clock that shows each individual moment.
It is a symbol of hope that both family and car will grow together, just as trees grow larger and stronger ring by ring.
