In what amounts to the most shocking redesign in recent memory, the new 2021 Toyota Mirai hydrogen-powered Sedan concept just bowed, and it leaves us almost speechless. In the starkest of contrasts, the new concept is a beautiful luxury sedan, and the current-generation Mirai is a repulsive hatchback that looks like someone designed it drunk and with his eyes closed.
From tip to toe, the new Mirai is a stunner, perhaps what the Avalon should've been. It's elegant and aggressive the point of looking like a premium vehicle that could appeal to a wide swath of buyers, certainly more so than the current Mirai that appeals to tree huggers who don't care how bad the car looks.
The front looks like it borrows the hoodline from the current Toyota 86 sports coupe, and the swept back headlights are long and thin. There's a fastback style roofline and elegant rear shoulders that taper nicely into an Audi A7-like tail section. The huge black chrome turbine wheels are the perfect match for this slinky sedan.
There are some additional touches that are subtle but add to the the Mirai sedan's polished look. The roof has been blackened, and the front A-pillars look slimmer from the exterior due to added black trim pieces. That's something we've only seen on the D-pillars of the outgoing Jaguar XJ, but those were originally made to meld with the tinted rear glass, which never made it to the states.
The Mirai sedan, quite obviously, gets way bigger than the original vehicle. It gains 3.3 inches in overall length, and its wheelbase is a whopping 5.5 inches longer. Width has increased by almost three inches,, and it's now nearly three inches lower at the roofline. Space has jumped, as well. It can now seat five adults, and the hatchback configuration is gone (thank goodness). Refinement, range, and power have also increased, though we don't know all the details. We do know engineers are aiming for a 30% increase in range, and it will be faster than the current Mirai's 0-60 "sprint" in 9 seconds. The current Mirai does have an impressive 312-mile range, so 30% more puts it at about 405 miles.
The interior is all-new, as well, and it gets swoopy lines from the newer generation of Toyota vehicles (photos show a right-hand drive car because the concept is made in Japan). Fresh digital instrumentation shows up, and there's a huge 12.3-inch touchscreen that's landscape-oriented. The Mirai sedan also gets a revised but similarly located dash-mounted shift knob. Heated/ventilated seats, a 14-speaker stereo, and a Qi-wireless phone-charging pad also show up in the fancy cabin.
Right now, the Mirai only sells in California, so the audience is very limited. The new concept looks like it just might appeal to a more widespread audience, but the fact that the infrastructure for hydrogen isn't there now means there are challenges. But Toyota is working to expand the market as we speak.
The new car will show up at the Tokyo Motor show and should go on sale in production form sometime in 2021. Not much else is known, including the price. The current Mirai isn't cheap at $58,000, and the new car will undoubtedly cost more. All we know is the new Mirai shows the world that Toyota has the ability to build a cutting-edge fuel cell vehicle that doesn't have to look like a total monstrosity.
