{"id":6645,"date":"2014-09-12T11:26:08","date_gmt":"2014-09-12T11:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=6645"},"modified":"2014-09-12T11:26:08","modified_gmt":"2014-09-12T11:26:08","slug":"toyota-concept-hints-at-future-urban-pick-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/6645","title":{"rendered":"Toyota concept hints at future urban pick-up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Toyota has released pictures of the U2 &#8212; described as a concept car for the US market, from a European perspective, it combines the benefits of a pick-up with the load-lugging efficiency\u00a0of a small van, by removing the divide between the cab area and the load area and providing a large opening tailgate and roof panel:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6646\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6646\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6646\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-3-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Toyota Calty U2 concept\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-3-sm.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-3-sm-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-3-sm-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6646\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Toyota Calty U2 concept<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The U2 is the work of Toyota&#8217;s Calty Design Center, in California, and was inspired &#8212; apparently &#8212; by the growing DIY and craft movement in the US, as well as by consumers&#8217; desire for smaller but more useful SUVs.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_6648\" style=\"width: 560px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6648\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-6648\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-1-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Inside Toyota U2 concept\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-1-sm.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-1-sm-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-1-sm-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-6648\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Inside the Inside Toyota U2 concept car<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As a result, the U2\u00a0is the size of a compact car, but has the functionality of a traditional pick-up and the spaciousness of a cargo van.<\/p>\n<p>It needed to be easily adaptable for individual on-the-go needs, witnessed in details such as a retractable utility bar that can do anything from hold a desk to provide hooks for shopping bags. The side windows flip up, so it\u2019s easy to reach in from the roadside.<\/p>\n<p>Other highlights include: &#8211;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Folding, removable front passenger seat<\/li>\n<li>Fold-up rear seats<\/li>\n<li>New shift design with an intuitive switch for park, drive and reverse<\/li>\n<li>New colour and trim material choices<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It also answers other urban driver priorities in delivering good fuel economy and being easy to manoeuvre, load and unload, according to Toyota.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6647\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-2-sm.jpg\" alt=\"Toyota Calty U2 Concept\" width=\"550\" height=\"367\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-2-sm.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-2-sm-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/toyota-calty-u2-2-sm-50x33.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I can certainly see the market for something like this, although less so in the UK, where it would be likely to be a niche vehicle &#8212; more expensive and less practical than a small van like the Citroen Berlingo, albeit with more status.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Toyota has released images of its Calty-designed U2 concept car, which combines the appeal of a SUV or pick-up with the practicality of a van.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[1868,1150,1869],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6649,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6645\/revisions\/6649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}