BY: ALEX BROWN
Toyota just released an electric throwback to the days of prohibition-era jalopies with a modern car, boat, and grandfather’s-desk aesthetic. The vehicle, called the Setsuna—or “moment” in Japanese—is pretty darn classy looking if you can avoid the irony of an electric-powered car made from hacked up Japanese birch.
The Setsuna was reportedly designed with a wooden exterior due to the material’s look changing when exposed to the elements. This makes the vehicle more personal and “reflects Toyota’s efforts to give form to the developing relationships between people and their cars,” according to a press release. The goal is to present consumers with a car that changes with them over the years, engraining itself in the life of the driver—kind of like your first car that you bond with regardless of how shitty and secondhand it is, except the Setsuna is neither.
According to Toyota, the Setsuna will change in colour and texture over the years, responding to the temperature of its environment, presumably the way an old piece of wood turns a few shades darker when left out in the rain. Toyota also used Japanese birch for the frame, and perhaps most interestingly, the car was constructed using “a traditional Japanese joinery technique called okuriari which does not use any nails or screws.”
The car also features a “100-year meter” to keep track of the intergenerational history of the car, or perhaps—just speculating here—to subtly prime customers to expect longevity. The car’s actual expiration date is unknown, and the fact that it’s made from wood is of course fuel for skepticism, but Toyota swears by its durability. Either way, the two-passenger Setsuna is still a concept awaiting consumer feedback before it’s prepared for the open market. Toyota’s plan is to officially unveil the Setsuna at the Milan Design Week in April, where it will either be greeted as the classiest roadster ever carved from birch or a superfluous hunk of electric-powered irony.
