This is it -- whatever 'it' is. Actually 'it' is Toyota's newest concept they'll be bringing to the Detroit Auto Show in two weeks, the A-BAT Concept Pickup Truck. And A-BAT is more than just a winged rat, it's actually, as we're told by our friends at PickupTruck.com, an acronym for 'Advanced Breakthrough Aero Truck.' That's a name that has us kinda scratching our heads. How did Toyota name a concept vehicle a 'breakthrough' when it looks like the love child of some sort of menage-a-truck involving the Honda Ridgeline, the Chevy Avalanche and the Toyota Prius. Yeah, you heard us -- the Toyota Prius -- you know, for that tint of green. But despite what appears to our eyes as the obvious Ridgeline-esque styling, Toyota claims the look of this unibody-platformed concept truck is unique -- based on 'the 'trapezoid' silhouette from the side profile of the Toyota Prius.' But don't think for a moment this concept is all car and no truck. The A-BAT's able to shed the five-person crew-cab-like set-up with a tiny four-foot bed and transform itself into a two-seat 'El Camino' configuration with a full eight-foot bed. The transformation's accomplished by dropping both the liftgate and the 'midgate' ( that sound you hear is Chevrolet's legal team opening up their briefcases in unison) on either end of the mini-bed.
But wait, there's more -- as we alluded to earlier, this concept's got some green going on under the hood by way of a hybrid synergy drive. So if Toyota ever builds this new-fangled El Cam, you can head to Home Depot to buy lumber for the deck of your cookie-cutter McMansion and make a statement about saving the environment all at once. But we do give Toyota some credit for aggressively going after a market they've targeted. Full press release after the jump.
