Toyota FT-86 Concept:

Packed with enough emotional content to satisfy fans of the departed Supra, MR-2 and Celica, the Toyota FT-86 Concept is set to make its world debut at the company's 2009 Tokyo auto show stand on October 21. It's got eye-catching looks, a 2+2 layout, rear-wheel-drive, a horizontally-opposed four-cylinder engine, and a six-speed manual transmission. And a production version is due by late 2011.

This unlikely coupe, borne out of the on-again, off-again, on-again relationship between Toyota and Subaru, nearly got axed twice. In April 2008, former Toyota CEO Katsuaki Watanabe first announced the joint development project with Subaru in which both companies would build a sports car based on the same platform. Since that date, the economic downturn led to two cooling off periods in which the destiny of the project hung in the balance. But enough momentum remained to push it into the 'can do' basket, and the fact that the Toyota-Subaru design team already had a significant springboard in the form of a Subaru platform and engine helped build the case to keep it alive.