The Toyota ME.WE. A name given to a visionary car with two aims at its heart: a concern for an individual’s freedom (ME.) and a responsibility towards society (WE.).
The innovative ME.WE concept car you see here is the result of a partnership between Toyota European Design & Development (ED2) and Jean-Marie Massaud, the renowned industrial designer creatively acclaimed for his visionary projects in design and architecture.
His ambition when conceiving the ME.WE was to create a realistic ‘anti-crisis’ car, one that looked for answers to the world’s human, economic and environmental challenges.
The unique collaboration shared a vision for the project that saw a paradigm shift in automotive thinking, using unconventional techniques that produced a concept with three primary aims:
What the collaboration of Massaud and the designers at ED2 has resulted in, is a car like no other, it is one that resets the expectations of small and affordable cars.
Built around a tubular aluminium structure, the ME.WE is made up of interchangeable expanded polypropylene body panels. This ultra resilient and ultra light material makes up the body, including doors, wings, bonnet and bumpers and is 100% recyclable.
But the real genius of ME.WE’s design is it’s four cars in one. The lightweight interchangeable panels can be re-configured by its owner to become a car to suit the occasion: pick-up, convertible, off-roader or small city car.
Mounted on rails in the floor of the car, the rear bench seat can be folded and stored under the front seat. The rear luggage space can then be extended and your ME.WE has been transformed into a pick-up truck, with bamboo flooring that looks good and easy to clean.
If it’s a hot summers day, then simply lower all the windows and windscreen of your ME.WE and feel the wind in your hair – and if you pull over for a picnic, the rear bench seat can be removed completely to make your time out in the sun even more enjoyable.
Conceived as an electric car with its motors integrated neatly inside each wheel like the Toyota i-ROAD concept car. The ME.WE can quickly change from two to four-wheel drive depending on the terrain it’s driving over.
The interior of the ME.WE has been entirely devoted to the needs of its five passengers. The car’s batteries, which can normally have an impact on vehicle space, are neatly located under the floor and any luggage is carried up on the roof, protected by a neoprene cover that unrolls from the front of the roof.
For the driver, everything about the cockpit says simplicity. A single screen mounted above the steering wheel tells you speed, battery charge and journey and navigation information sent via a smartphone. This same phone allows for the creation of your own personal environment, from controlling the temperature in the cabin to communication, music and apps.
The ME.WE concept car is not a reinvention of the car, but rather a vehicle that’s designed for everyone. The pleasure derived from owning and driving it comes from simpler things such as ease of parking, adaptability and huge amounts of fun!
Live from Geneva Motor Show 2018