Photo: Toyota
We live in a time when many of our peers sleep, work, and live in carefully crafted shipping containers. It's a cheap way to a dream house, a method to reuse objects that would have otherwise been discarded, and a reason to celebrate human ingenuity. So if shipping containers can be homes, why can't vehicles be shaped like and draw inspiration from them?
It's in the world of concept cars that we get to see such crazy ideas put into practice. The upcoming Tokyo Auto Show taking place at the end of the month is the perfect moment to witness the unveiling of many such projects, as Japanese carmakers go out of their way to dazzle us with their vision of the future.
It's probably Nissan that will take center stage in this respect, with the flood of Hyper concepts it has cooked up for the event. But Toyota doesn't plan to be left behind, and it too readied a number of interesting designs.
The most recent one to break cover is the Kayoibako, an electric people and cargo mover described as nothing less than "ultra-expandable" mobility. Because this is a concept we're talking about, it's not exactly clear what that means, but the (rather limited) photos that accompany the release clear the air a bit.
The concept is van-like, comes with doors in all imaginable places that open in a variety of ways, doesn't have enough windows and, above all, is customizable to suit a large number of needs, both in terms of hardware and software.
What that means is that the Kayoibako could function as a transport van for last-mile delivery, but it can also be adapted to serve as a personal vehicle. Of course, a conversion to a shuttle bus is not ruled out, and neither is the electric vehicle turning into a mobile shop. In some scenarios, it could also "function as part of smart grids and other intelligent social systems."
We're told it is an electric vehicle we're looking at, but Toyota makes no mention as to what the drivetrain could be powering it, specifically.
The vehicle was named Kayoibako because apparently the term most widely refers to configurable shipping containers, but I personally find it more suitable for the other sense of the word, which loosely can be translated to a returnable box.
The Kayoibako will be on the floor of the 2023 Tokyo Auto Show as part of a display called Let's Change the Future of Cars - Find Your Future. Alongside it will be a series of other concepts, including a next-generation EV called FT-3e, and a high-performance one christened FT-Se.
At the time of writing we know of neither of them being a preview of an actual production model.
It's probably Nissan that will take center stage in this respect, with the flood of Hyper concepts it has cooked up for the event. But Toyota doesn't plan to be left behind, and it too readied a number of interesting designs.
The most recent one to break cover is the Kayoibako, an electric people and cargo mover described as nothing less than "ultra-expandable" mobility. Because this is a concept we're talking about, it's not exactly clear what that means, but the (rather limited) photos that accompany the release clear the air a bit.
The concept is van-like, comes with doors in all imaginable places that open in a variety of ways, doesn't have enough windows and, above all, is customizable to suit a large number of needs, both in terms of hardware and software.
What that means is that the Kayoibako could function as a transport van for last-mile delivery, but it can also be adapted to serve as a personal vehicle. Of course, a conversion to a shuttle bus is not ruled out, and neither is the electric vehicle turning into a mobile shop. In some scenarios, it could also "function as part of smart grids and other intelligent social systems."
We're told it is an electric vehicle we're looking at, but Toyota makes no mention as to what the drivetrain could be powering it, specifically.
The vehicle was named Kayoibako because apparently the term most widely refers to configurable shipping containers, but I personally find it more suitable for the other sense of the word, which loosely can be translated to a returnable box.
The Kayoibako will be on the floor of the 2023 Tokyo Auto Show as part of a display called Let's Change the Future of Cars - Find Your Future. Alongside it will be a series of other concepts, including a next-generation EV called FT-3e, and a high-performance one christened FT-Se.
At the time of writing we know of neither of them being a preview of an actual production model.
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