Fans of JDM cars and manga know this Japanese license plate number: 13-954. It's emblazoned on the Toyota Corolla AE86, aka "Hachi-Roku" (Japanese for eight-six), made famous by the comic series "Initial D." In the series, an AE86 serves as a vehicle for the young Takumi Fujiwara, who's been delivering tofu for his father for years. Takumi unintentionally develops into the drift king of Mount Akina and causes quite a few surprises in the drift scene.
The combination of tofu and Corolla came together in 1995 in "Initial D," the Japanese comic (manga) by Shuichi Shigeno, which struck a chord with car lovers (and, dare we say it, tofu lovers, too).
Takumi, the Tofu Drifter
The protagonist of the story, Takumi Fujiwara, is a high school student (and later a college student) who works at a gas station during summer vacation and lives in the mountainous Gunma prefecture in central Japan. In the early hours of the morning, he delivers tofu from his father's store in his family's aging Corolla, a Toyota Sprinter Trueno (commonly known by its chassis number, AE86).
When the sun goes down, his black-and-white AE86 becomes the ultimate racing machine on the nearby mountain roads. Fujiwara and his fellow racers drift along the winding roads, deliberately oversteering and pushing their cars and skills to the limit. With its simple body and layout, the AE86 was perfect for tuning and drifting.
Takumi himself, on the other hand, is quite reserved and mightily surprised when he finds out what he actually drives every day. He had only ever read the word Trueno at the rear, as AE86 is just the internal code name at Toyota. And there were actually several AE86s in the 1980s.
AE86 to the Power of Three
Let's break the whole thing down: Toyota offered sporty Corolla models with rear-wheel drive from the summer of 1983. In Japan, these hatchback and notchback coupes went by the names Corolla Levin and Sprinter Trueno; in the USA, the cars were called Corolla GT-S or SR5.
On the domestic market, an SOHC 1.5-liter with 84 horsepower and a 1.6-liter with two overhead camshafts and 128 hp were available. In North America, these engines produced 74 hp and 114 hp.
In Europe, both or just one body variant was offered, depending on the market. In Germany, the notchback version was available from November 1983 under the name Corolla GT with the 1.6-liter four-valve engine, which produced 122 hp here and 114 hp with a catalytic converter from the end of 1985. The initial price was DM19,990 ($10,944). Coupe production ended in July 1987.
The retro electrician
Why am I telling you all this? Well, as a fan of the "Initial D" series, I was extremely pleased when Toyota showed the Corolla Levin AE86 BEV Concept last year. It's a classic car with electric drive, which is not a breathtakingly new idea, as many restomods show, but Toyota actually installed a manual gearbox in this EV.
I was able to spend some time in the driver's seat of this car as part of a Toyota event (no driving, unfortuantely). But the car is interesting enough in its own right. Before the hardcore "Initial D" disciples stone me: This is not Takumi's car, at least visually from the A-pillar onwards. The Levin has normal headlights at the front, while the Trueno has pop-up eyes. Toyota showed the latter as a hydrogen study at the same time as the Levin BEV. (For "Initial D" nerds: Wataru Akiyama drove a Levin AE86).
With the hood of the Levin AE86 BEV open, all one sees is an unadorned electric motor slumbering. Its power comes from the might battery pack in the rear stamped with a Lexus badge. There are no more rear seats, but the weight distribution should be halfway right.
Levin writes himself with EV
Toyota announced the letters EV in L-EV-in in 2023. The battery-powered system uses an electric motor from a Tundra Hybrid, a battery pack from a Prius plug-in hybrid, and components from other Toyota and Lexus series models.
And as Group boss Akio Toyoda, a proven Car Guy, explained: "There is a CO2-neutral way for us as car lovers. We don't want to leave any car lovers behind." So people like you and me can wriggle past the roll cage and into the tight bucket seat. I don't need the pretty four-point seat belts—after all, I'm not allowed to drive.
But when I reach for the handy TRD sports steering wheel and look at the dashboard, my fingers start to itch. Especially as there is a fat handbrake (drifting fun!) and a gearshift to my left (of course the electric Levine is right-hand drive!). And yes, you read that right: A gearshift in an electric car. Sure, it only simulates gears, but Toyota is serious about it.
Toyota Plans EVs with Manual Gearboxes
Toyota is expected to introduce a simulated manual gearbox as an option in its electric vehicles from 2026. The automaker will install an additional pedal (whose resistance will presumably be generated by an electric motor), a "rev counter," and a gearshift. A gear is engaged as with a normal manual gearbox, but the lever can return to neutral after being operated.
Akio Toyoda said: "It took us almost 50 years to finally install a battery and a motor in the Levin. The original 4AG engine is a treasure, so we removed it with the utmost care. However, the manual gearbox is untouched. The clutch and gearshift can still be enjoyed."
"Many car manufacturers are aiming to switch to battery-powered electric vehicles by around 2030. However, the reality is that we cannot achieve zero emissions in 2050 by simply switching all new car sales to electric vehicles."
This sounds reasonable, Toyoda-san. But how about an electric Neo-Trueno-AE86 with a retro design (a-la the new Renault 5) and a manual gearbox? After all, there's a little Takumi Fujiwara in all of us.
