Mix a Toyota 86 with a Honda CR-Z and a Mazda MX-5 RF and you get this: the Toyota GR HV Sports concept, a targa-top hybrid sports car concept headed for the Tokyo auto show. It appears to be heavily based on the existing rear-wheel-drive Toyota 86, albeit with futuristic-looking headlights and taillights and a new gas-electric drivetrain that’s said to use technology from Toyota’s TS050 hybrid race car that competes at Le Mans.

All we know about the GR HV’s mechanicals are that it’s rear-wheel drive, it has a mid-mounted battery pack in place of the 86’s rear seats, and it has an automatic transmission. Don’t be too disappointed about the lack of a clutch pedal, though, as Toyota has devised an interesting approximation of a manual gearbox. Shifting through park, reverse, neutral, and drive is achieved through a row of buttons on the center stack, while a button marked M enables the use of the shifter, which moves through an H-pattern gate to give the impression of shifting a six-speed manual. A funky solution for sure, but we’d have to try it out to see if it could mimic some the fun of a true stick-shift.
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As concepts go, the GR HV Sports looks relatively realistic, but that doesn’t mean Toyota will build it. We’re not ready to rule out a production version of this concept, though, as...