The Design Week in Milan begins in just a few days, and will be the framework chosen by Toyota to present in society the Setsuna Concept. Is a prototype really atypical: leaving aside the fact that it is built entirely in wood, is designed to carry with pride his age. The aging of the wood is beautiful, and Toyota has wanted to leave to a side of high-tech materials and planned obsolescence, creating a prototype designed to last at least a century, fulfilling decades with elegance.
Chassis and body are made of wood, and have been united in its entirety without using a single nail, rivet or adhesive thanks to a technique called okuriari.
Setsuna means moment in japanese. The philosophy behind this curious and quiet prototype is that a car should also grow old, absorbing the memories, experiences and emotions of the family that has enjoyed. In this way, it becomes more beautiful, more rich, as time passes. This is why Toyota has decided to build in wood Setsuna Concept. He has turned to craftsmen carpenters japanese, who have created this beautiful vehicle for 3.03 meters in length using several woods, mainly cedar and birch.
These woods change with time, depending on the humidity, temperature, and conditions of use of the same. Toyota expects the car to change with the years of use, accumulating in your body to these experiences. A beautiful philosophy embodied in a peculiar clock located on your dashboard. A watch whose sole purpose is to measure the age of the car, reaching up to 100 years. Can you imagine a car today in 100 years? It is complicated, but in the case of Setsuna, your goal is to last in time.
Has in its bowels a simple electric motor, whose origin is unknown, but it is not a sports car.
it Is for this reason that the car lacks of plastics, without going any further. The wood is its main component, supplemented with leather seats classic look, and metal for the mechanical parts. In a way, is a car similar to a Ford Model T of yesteryear that to a Toyota Prius today, built almost entirely based composite materials. It is also a prototype very elegant, of just 97 centimetres high and two squares. A car made for enjoyment, classic lines and features discreet.
you would Think that an internal combustion engine is not the best idea in a car made of wood, and you’re right. That is why Toyota has installed an electric motor in its belly. A technology very reliable, whose perpetuity in time is guaranteed even if there is no more oil on the planet. Can you imagine receiving a car as well as inheritance? Of course, Toyota will not produce in series a car like Setsuna, but as a reflection and automotive as a utopian idea, it is hardly perfect.
Source: Toyota
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