Toyota’s latest project is proof that the future of British motoring might just fit in your garden shed. Meet the FT-Me, a pint-sized electric runabout that’s inching its way from concept to production reality — and yes, it could be built right here in Derbyshire.

Thanks to a £15 million investment from the UK government, Toyota’s quirky little urban EV has been given the green light for a deeper feasibility study. The plan? To turn the adorable FT-Me Concept into something you could actually buy (and possibly park inside your living room).

Microlino, meet the Sensei

Toyota is pitching the FT-Me as a rival to the Citroën Ami and Microlino, which means it’ll fall under the same L6e quadricycle regulations — a fancy way of saying “don’t expect Nürburgring lap times.” Power will be limited to a humble 8bhp, with a top speed of just 28mph.

That might sound glacial, but this isn’t about speed. It’s about smart, sustainable, low-impact mobility for the cities of tomorrow — the kind of thing you’d use to nip from your flat to the farmer’s market without leaving a carbon footprint the size of Yorkshire.

Built in Burnaston, born for the city

If all goes to plan, production will take place at Toyota’s Burnaston plant — the same site that’s been turning out Corollas for decades. The project will see Toyota team up with a trio of very British collaborators:

• Elm, the maker of the Evolv electric delivery van (the FT-Me will borrow some of its tech),
• Savcor, who’ll provide a solar-panelled roof capable of recovering up to 19 miles of range per day, and
• the University of Derby, which will study how drivers actually use this titchy EV in the real world.

Toyota’s UK boss Dariusz Mikolajczak calls it “a cutting-edge battery-electric vehicle that addresses the growing demand for sustainable urban mobility.” Translation: this could be your next city car, provided your city has more coffee shops than motorways.

A £30 million leap into the small lane

This whole endeavour is backed by the Drive35 programme — a £2.5 billion pot designed to help Britain’s car industry go zero-emission. One string attached: manufacturers have to match at least 50% of the funding. In Toyota’s case, that means it’s likely putting up most of the £30.3 million total investment itself.

Not bad for a machine roughly the size of a dishwasher.

So what’s it really about?

Toyota’s been talking about the “mobility ecosystem” for years — a sprawling vision of cars, scooters, and pods that all connect, communicate, and coexist. The FT-Me is a small but significant jigsaw piece in that puzzle, a symbol of the brand’s willingness to explore every corner of future transport — even the teeny-tiny ones.

And while an 8bhp microcar might not set your pulse racing, there’s something undeniably cool about the idea of one of the world’s biggest carmakers betting big on something so small. It’s daring, it’s daft, and it might just redefine what we mean by “British-built.”

Source: Autocar