The SEMA show is a big event in Las Vegas where companies show off cool car parts and custom cars. It's a place for car lovers to see the latest trends.
The multi-pathway approach means Toyota is making different types of cars that run on different kinds of fuel, like gas, electricity, or hydrogen. This way, they can offer choices for everyone.
Battery electric cars run only on electricity from batteries, not gas. They don't create any pollution from the exhaust, making them better for the planet.
A hybrid car uses two types of power: a regular engine that burns fuel and an electric motor. This helps the car use less gas and be better for the environment.
Internal combustion means engines that work by burning fuel, like gasoline, to make the car go. It's how most cars used to run before electric cars became popular.
Time attack is a type of racing where drivers try to complete a lap as fast as possible. They don't race against each other but just try to beat the clock.
The Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 is a fancy sports car that is really fast and fun to drive. It's designed for people who love racing and want a car that feels exciting on the road while still being comfortable enough for daily use.
Coilovers are special parts of a car's suspension that help control how the car rides and handles. They can be adjusted to change how high or low the car sits.
The Toyota RAV4 GR is a new sporty version of the RAV4, which is a popular SUV. It has features that make it more fun to drive, thanks to Toyota's racing team, Gazoo Racing.
The Toyota Land Cruiser FJ60 is an older model of a tough SUV that was made in the 1980s. It's popular for its ability to handle rough terrains and is loved by many car fans.
The Toyota Tundra is a big truck that can carry heavy loads and drive on rough roads. It's known for being tough and lasting a long time, which makes it a favorite for people who need a reliable vehicle for work or outdoor adventures.
A wiring harness is like a bundle of wires that connects different parts of the car, allowing them to communicate and work together. It helps power things like lights and the engine's computer.
Car
Toyota FJ60
The Toyota FJ60 is an older model of the Land Cruiser, which is a tough SUV built for off-roading. Many people like to restore and modify these vehicles for adventure driving.
A 2.4 liter engine is a way to describe how big the engine is. Bigger engines usually produce more power, which helps the vehicle go faster or carry more weight.
The Toyota Tacoma is a type of pickup truck that is strong and can be used for many different tasks, including off-roading. It's well-liked for its reliability.
The Scion tC is a small car that was made by Toyota. It was known for being stylish and fun to drive, especially popular with younger people who liked to customize their cars.
The Toyota Mirai is a special car that runs on hydrogen instead of gasoline, which means it doesn't pollute the air. It’s like a science experiment on wheels, helping to show how cars can be cleaner for the environment.
The Toyota Corolla Cross is a small SUV that has more space than a regular car, making it great for families or people who need to carry more stuff. It's easy to drive and has lots of safety features, which makes it a good choice for everyday use.
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And you, who loves podcasts, know that it's like that.
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Welcome to the Total Car Score Podcast, bringing you the world of cars from inside the car.
And now your hosts, Carl Brower, Lauren Fix and Javier Mota.
Well, here we are at Las Vegas Convention Center with Dan Gardner from Toyota North America.
And we are here in the preview for the SEMA show, which is this crazy show that everything can you imagine about a car?
Aftermarket, it's here, right?
Yes, absolutely. So this is our 2025 SEMA exhibit.
We're here in Central Hall in Las Vegas at the Convention Center.
And our theme for this year is powered by possibility.
So we have a build for every powertrain.
At Toyota, we call it our multi-pathway approach.
So whether that's internal combustion only, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, battery electric, or hydrogen fuel cell,
we're supporting a vast array of different technologies and a diverse portfolio of products.
So we decided, why not do a build?
And applying it for like race cars too.
Well, yeah, I mean, this one is definitely the race car.
So this is a hill climb or a time attack car.
This is the busy time attack concept.
You can see the dual element wing.
A huge wing. So this is Saudi only, but the wing is what?
Like six inches over the width of the car or what?
I don't know exactly how much bigger than the car it is, but it's gigantic.
Two element, fully adjustable, giant diffuser, side streaks.
You see the air dam and the giant splitter.
It's been widened six inches. It has a lot more rubber on it.
You can see how much lower it is.
Up the power a little bit, but this is all electric, all battery electric.
And I heard you, this is like the first version of it is like 330 something like that.
But you can keep moving up on that number, right?
We're working on trying to continue to take the twin motor setup that we have here
and find the next hundred horsepower and the next hundred horsepower.
Remember, with the battery electric, it's max torque at zero RPM.
So it doesn't take any time.
I know, you like over there.
So these are the race cars we have here in 86, GR86.
And these are all the cars here.
You have over what 30 cars here understand about 30 every and every car is modified in some way.
Right?
There's a couple that don't have something on them.
But for the most part, there's either either accessories on them or it's our race car build like our GT4 Super
or a GR Cup 86 or we have a touring car, GR Corolla or just let's say our trucks that have rooftop tents
and Dometic refrigerators and recovery kits on them.
Like, yeah, there's something on everything, but we have seven major builds.
Okay, let's walk to the next one because I think that's Camry, right?
Camry is the next one.
And that car in an orange, bright orange color.
We call it Orange Flare and it is called the Camry GTS concept.
You remember, people remember Toyota, we've sold some GTS cars like the Salica GTS and others before.
Right now, the sportiest model we have of the Camry is called the XSE.
I could see, yeah.
So we wanted to imagine, what if we had something even sportier than the XSE and that's the idea behind this GTS concept.
In fact, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, we have a research team here that wants people to tell Toyota what they think,
if they want us to build it and we're going to consider it for this car and two other ones.
I mean, in that color, with that, those kind of accessory, I'm sure a lot of people are going to want it
because people who come to this show are specifically looking for these kind of different things, right?
100%. This is all about people that are looking for the wild,
people that are looking to express their personality through their cars.
That's what the show's about. It's all about accessorization.
So let's say Toyota makes the Camry, which is our Picasso,
and you want to turn it into a Renoir?
Well, then you put all sorts of other cool things on it.
So this one has the bigger brakes.
It has a different splitter, like some other accessories.
Yeah, front end. It has the side skirts.
It has the duckbill spoiler, not just bigger brakes.
Eight piston front brakes that are cross-drilled and slotted in the rear.
Six piston cross-drilled and slotted.
It's probably lowered about two inches.
It has full coilover suspension on the front,
and then it has a version of coilovers with a rear ride height adjust system in the rear
because we don't sell the Camry with a coilover in the back.
And it also has some exhaust, so it sounds a lot throttlier.
So these projects must be the most fun for all the engineers and designers and all that.
Because basically it's complete freedom, right?
You can make whatever you want. I guess like,
open management doesn't get too much in your way.
Yeah, I mean, I know this is built by our friends at Calty.
Calty is our design studio.
They make our cars look the way that they look, at least the ones for sale in North America.
And you're right, it's a chance for them to express themselves,
to produce something that is a one-off, that's their vision.
But in the case of this particular car that you're talking about,
I think that we want to know what people think.
Maybe we'd consider it, we'll see.
Or at least aspects of it.
So let's see the next one there, which is, I believe, the RAV4 GR,
that's just about to go on sale, the new generation.
And this one was different.
So obviously this is a GR Sport you're going to be able to buy.
Everyone's going to be able to buy it.
Because it was already sporty from the get-go,
and it already had an aggressive stance in the overfenders and whatnot,
we wanted to make sure that we were able to carry that theme.
One small step forward in this particular case,
a vehicle we haven't released yet, so we didn't go crazy on it.
We wanted it to speak for itself.
But all the body kit stuff you see around the bottom of the vehicle
that help draw the eye downward and make it look lower.
Oh, I see, yeah.
That black part on the bottom, yeah.
All that treatment that's around the bottom is a prototype kit that we've produced just for the same issue.
Excellent one.
This one, I drove it in Arizona.
And really, the GR model is completely different to the others.
And this red and black combination looks really, really cool.
I think my favorite car is the next one, which is the All Land Cruiser.
I know, tell me about that one.
What model is this?
It's like 80's?
It's an FJ60, yeah, like 85 or thereabouts.
And the idea is, what if you loved this generation of Land Cruiser,
but you wanted it to be something that had, let's say, three times as much power and torque.
Wow.
And let's say, just smoother running, better startup, even more reliable.
And obviously, it was reliable then too.
What if Toyota was to consider the idea of a crate motor, right?
Like some other manufacturers use a crate motor.
And we look to our 3.4 liter twin turbo.
Goes in right in the tundra?
Tundra and Sequoia.
And what if we drop that in and figure it out a way to make it work, be completely clean.
So the engine well wasn't big enough, do you have to do any modifications to the body?
No, no major modification.
The idea, our idea here, if it was something that we decided to do,
which is still just up in the air, which is an idea,
is could you give the customer something that they could actually do in their own garage
or with their mechanic?
Could we sell a kit that didn't require any of that,
like you're talking about engine bay, major modifications with a wiring harness,
with an ECU, with an engine that gave them modern performance and refinement too.
So for example, I went to New Zealand last December at a friend of mine there,
has similar year model, 80 something, more than half a million kilometers.
And obviously the engine, I mean, it's not as powerful,
but this is kind of that idea that people with all those cars that keep them running and all that,
they can do this.
It could be this, it could be something, let's say, that's not a street vehicle.
What about a crazy rock crawler that you wanted to put a modern?
I mean, it could be anything.
We're using the FJ60 as our canvas to get people to consider,
what would it be like if Toyota had a crate motor for them?
And I can modernize something that I like.
And right behind it, I mean, this is not the order in which you presented this morning,
but this place went crazy when you showed this.
Tell us about it.
I mean, this is something insane.
Like I said, you guys know we build Toyota builds great cars and trucks,
perhaps the finest cars and trucks in the world.
But we've never experimented with actually considering building something like,
let's say, a side by side.
And we know that this segment of UTVs is really popular right now.
We're paying a whole lot of money for these things.
But what if we could take our automotive know-how, our 2.4 liter Tacoma engine,
and put it in here.
It's really powerful.
Three times as much power as a really powerful side by side.
Use off the shelf components that we have for our cars and trucks.
And then also custom build a frame and consider what it could be for Toyota
to be in the business of side by side.
Wow.
And this one is called Scion 01.
01, yeah.
But the Scion is just obviously just like an homage to the brand that went away.
By the way, I love that car.
The TC was it called?
The TC was.
Oh, my God.
That was my favorite.
Yeah, that was a great car.
I always liked square cars.
So, oh, the XB.
Oh, the XB.
I'm sorry, the XB.
Yeah, the boxy.
The TC was a group.
Yeah.
But no, the idea was if you think about the car brand Scion, it was our experimental laboratory.
Yeah.
We could try things outside of what we would normally do at Toyota.
And so we resurrected the brand Scion again for this concept.
So people could understand that we're experimenting outside of something we would normally do.
This is our laboratory.
Scion is our laboratory.
Oh, okay.
So it's still like that.
Yeah.
So the next vehicle is really interesting because this is the one with fuel cell technology,
right?
And it's based on what is that?
Yeah, this is a Tacoma.
Oh, that's a Tacoma.
It's started as a TRD Pro.
Yeah.
Just a stock TRD Pro.
And they completely pulled out the powertrain.
Completely pulled out the powertrain.
Oh.
And we installed a Gen 2 Mirai fuel cell staff along with a giant battery.
So basically it can run either as a battery electric vehicle or as a hydrogen fuel cell electric
vehicle or it can run both.
It has 15 kilowatt hours of takeoff.
It can run your whole house off of this truck.
And it also has two 220 plugs where you can charge other EVs off of the truck.
And because when hydrogen and oxygen are mixed together across the fuel cell stack, after
the chemical reaction produces electricity, the only byproduct is water that comes out
of the tailpipe.
So we have a water recovery system.
Oh, you're collecting it.
That's very smart.
So we recapture the water so you have it in an off-grid situation like that's what we
call it.
Obviously this is a concept so no range numbers or anything like that but this you can go
off-grid for a while I guess.
Sure but you're talking about it's a coma now with 500 horsepower and we know that the
Mirais have around 400 miles of range.
So very respectful plus what the battery range can give you.
It has the battery and the hydrogen tanks.
The only thing probably that you can need maybe solar panels to complete that is another
idea maybe.
That would be another thing, yeah.
So there's one more car here from the special builds.
And again, all the cars that are shown here at SEMA are equipped with factory or partner
accessories so the guarantee is all the same.
Yeah, you can get it installed at the dealer, you keep your warranty, all that kind of stuff.
You can roll it into your payments if you buy it from us or our AAP partner part so that's
another cool thing.
But this is the Corolla Cross Hybrid NASU edition and NASU is a mountain in Japan.
It also means to achieve and so we wanted to say our smallest all-wheel drive vehicle
what if it also was more capable?
What if it also could go on adventurous?
You see it's a lot more ruggedized.
You see the hood scoop, you see the stance, you see the wheels and tires, you see the mountain
bike on the top.
It's got a fridge and a whole bunch of other things inside of it but so the idea was
a Corolla Cross isn't just a wagon to us that you could drive around let's say in a little
bit of rain or snow.
What if it could actually go off the...
It looks completely different from the regular model I have to say but I mean they did a
lot of work here.
Yeah, for sure.
So again, this comes from our what we call our SPAD group.
What is that stand for?
Service parts and development.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, and accessory development too.
So they SPAD, we call it SPAD, they produce all of our accessories like whether it's the
basket or whether it's any sort of...
Even the mountain bike that is on the top, that's different.
Pelican, we partner with various companies and SPAD designs a bunch of accessories.
So they're really...
Think of them as both the engineering arm that helps develop and either on their own
or through partners like Pelican and Go Rhino and Dometic and those kinds of companies as
well as our marketing arm that gives the dealers a chance to not just sell the car and let
people just buy stuff wherever but to have a one-stop shop at the Toyota dealerships.
Well, I think these years models here are much more realistic than last year.
I remember last year there was...
In this last position, there was a surf...
There was a surf right there.
Right, right.
Yeah, exactly.
So, but these ones really are like the base model with a lot of accessories.
It's funny you say that.
So I know you didn't think about this.
I want to show you something here.
Okay.
Both the NASA Edition Corolla Cross, the Camry GTS and the TurboTrad cruiser.
We have these signs.
Can you see?
What does it say?
Help decide which concept.
Oh, wow.
So people can really interact here.
This is going to go back to Plano.
Oh, wow.
With iPads and it's perfect that you said that they seem more real because we want to know
if people think we should build them this year.
Yeah, okay.
That's very interesting at a big opportunity for the feedback from the customer.
Although this show is not open to the public.
No, but there are 180,000 people.
Yeah, exactly.
Like the word spreads and all that.
Like you could do it too.
No, I know.
Yeah, of course.
I don't know what you think.
It takes a minute to fill it out.
And it's anonymous.
You don't give out any of your personal information.
Well, I'll give you my opinion.
I'll give you my opinion.
Build them all.
Build them all.
Build them all.
Build them all.
I think, I mean, they look fantastic and again.
But you told me your favorite is the TurboTrad.
Yeah, I guess.
I always like all their cars.
I mean, like the new cars are amazing, but I appreciate the beauty of the old cars.
And I don't know, like when you think about, I mean, this is from the 80s, but you get
to see a car from the 30s or the 40s and you just realize how much work it took to build
them back then with not many power tools or anything like that.
Big computers.
Right.
It's an amazing piece of art, more than that engineering thing, right?
Sure.
But anyway, thank you very much for your time.
A great show and a lot of vehicles here.
Sure.
So look for the videos that are all going to post and everything.
Nice.
I want to take another look at all the cars.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Appreciate it.
That's a wrap for this episode of the Total Car Score podcast.
Want more expert takes on the hottest cars, industry trends and insider insights?
Join Javier Mota, Lauren Fix and Carl Brower every week for the ultimate auto talk.
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About this episode
Toyota showcased its innovative builds at SEMA 2025, emphasizing a multi-pathway approach to powertrains, including internal combustion, hybrids, and electric vehicles. Notable builds included a battery electric race car, a sporty Camry GTS concept, and a modernized FJ60 Land Cruiser with a crate motor option. The episode features insights from Dan Gardner of Toyota North America, discussing how these builds reflect customer desires for personalization and performance. Listeners will appreciate the blend of creativity and engineering that Toyota is exploring for future models.
In this episode, we’re reporting from Las Vegas at the 2025 SEMA Show, where Toyota unveiled its Power of Possibilities exhibit—seven innovative concept vehicles powered by gas, electricity, hydrogen, and the brand’s legendary hybrid technology. The best part? Toyota is letting customers help decide which of these concepts should go into production. Tune in to explore each model, the tech behind them, and what this bold approach means for the future of automotive design.
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