2025 Toyota SEMA concepts blend turbo heritage EV speed and hydrogen muscle
Toyota’s 2025 SEMA slate reads like a powertrain sampler: a twin-turbo homage to the classic Land Cruiser, a grounded-yet-spicy Camry study, a widebody battery-electric time-attack toy, and a hydrogen-fueled Tacoma overlander that can charge your friend’s EV at camp. Four very different ideas, one very consistent message from the automaker—there isn’t a single answer to performance or to the future of propulsion.
Turbo Trail Cruiser puts modern i-FORCE thrust in an FJ60 shell
Restomods usually wear their heart transplants loudly. Not this one. The Turbo Trail Cruiser starts with a mid-’80s Land Cruiser FJ60 and slides in Toyota’s i-FORCE 3.4-liter twin-turbo V6 from the current Tundra. Output lands at 389 horsepower and 479 lb-ft of torque—roughly twice what the FJ60’s original inline-six delivered—yet the build’s guiding principle is subtlety. The team engineered custom motor mounts and machined an adapter so the V6 bolts to the Land Cruiser’s factory five-speed manual. No firewall surgery. No relocated hard points. Even the redesigned oil pan and the new heat exchanger use locations that respect the FJ60’s structure.
The rest of the integration reads like a careful OEM exercise: a dedicated wiring harness to talk to the engine management, a bespoke exhaust for a deeper voice without cartoonish volume, and cooling upgrades that don’t hack up vintage sheetmetal. Chassis tweaks are measured too—a 1.5-inch lift, a front shackle reversal, and 35-inch tires—paired with period-correct paint and graphics, including a PPG recreation of Toyota’s 1986 Silver 147. Inside, the cabin stays largely analog, save for a discreet JBL audio system. It’s the rare SEMA build that tries not to look like a SEMA build, and that restraint suits the Land Cruiser’s upright design. If you’re searching for a price tag or a 0–60 time, you won’t find one; this is a one-off concept with the usual caveats about legality and warranty.
Camry GT-S Concept sharpens a hybrid sedan without touching the powertrain
The Camry GT-S Concept is the least outrageous car here, and that’s intentional. It’s built off the 2025 Toyota Camry XSE AWD Hybrid and keeps the production powerplant intact: a 2.5-liter four-cylinder hybrid system rated at 232 hp. No tune. No intake. All the energy goes into stance, aero, and brakes—areas that too often get ignored on show cars chasing headline horsepower.
CALTY Design Research in Ann Arbor led the design with input from Toyota R&D. The bodywork adds more assertive front and side elements, plus a reworked rear fascia and bumper shaped to work with a performance exhaust. The paint, called Inferno Flare, does a lot of lifting; it gives the GT-S an extroverted motorsport vibe without straying into parody. Underneath, adjustable coilovers drop the car about 1.5 inches. The brake hardware is serious: 8-piston calipers clamping 365 mm rotors up front and 6-piston calipers with 356 mm rotors at the rear. Filling the arches are 20-inch wheels on 245/35R20 rubber.
Inside, it stays largely production-spec, which fits the brief of looking like something a dealer might plausibly sell someday. Skeptics will ask whether the lowered ride height and big brake setup would be overkill for a 232-hp hybrid. Fair question. But the GT-S treatment shows a path for enthusiasts who want sharper responses and real hardware without abandoning the Camry’s day-to-day civility. As with the other builds, figure on show-car status only; it’s a prototype with modifications not currently offered by Toyota.
bZ Time Attack explores Toyota’s BEV platform with downforce and 3D printing
Toyota’s first all-electric SEMA concept leans hard into motorsports. Starting with the upcoming 2026 model-year AWD bZ platform—rated at 338 hp and a factory 0–60 mph claim of 4.9 seconds in showroom trim—the bZ Time Attack Concept turns the wick up to more than 300 kW (400+ hp) with bespoke control software and motors tuned by Toyota R&D. That’s fed to all four wheels, and the chassis sits dramatically lower: a six-inch drop in ride height and a six-inch bump in track width compared with stock.
The aero package is comprehensive: a deep front splitter, side skirts, a rear diffuser, and a large rear wing integrated into a one-off widebody. Getting that level of fit on an EV platform pushed the team toward a hybrid fabrication method—laser scanning, CAD modeling, and large-format 3D printing—then hand-finishing for strength and surface quality. Toyota’s Add Lab in Kentucky and partners such as Dark Matter Laser Works helped compress development time, which matters when you’re creating a car like this for a fixed show deadline.
Hardware includes TEIN coilovers and springs, Alcon brakes with Hawk pads drawing from Toyota’s 86 Cup and Corolla Touring Car programs, and a FIA-compliant 4130 chromoly roll cage. Inside sit OMP HTE-R seats with matching harnesses. Tires are meaty 305/30ZR19 Continental ExtremeContact Sport 02s on 19×11 BBS Unlimited wheels. The tri-color finish—pearl white, metallic black, and red—makes the surfacing pop. Toyota isn’t quoting a top speed or lap time, and that’s fine; the value here is in treating a BEV as a competition platform and testing how packaging, aero, and thermal management scale up.
Note for the EV-curious: Toyota says its electric portfolio expands in 2026 with a new bZ model focused on range and charging improvements, plus two additional BEVs—the bZ Woodland and the C-HR—aimed at broadening choices beyond today’s mix.
Tacoma H2-Overlander turns hydrogen into camp power and quiet thrust
Overlanding is often about self-sufficiency. The Tacoma H2-Overlander Concept leans into that with a hydrogen fuel cell stack from the second-generation Mirai and three tanks packaged in the frame rails, good for 6 kg of hydrogen storage. A 24.9-kWh lithium-ion battery supplements the stack. Together they feed two electric drive units—225 kW up front and a 188 kW eAxle at the rear—for a combined 547 hp. It’s nearly silent, has instant torque, and routes power through a front limited-slip differential and a rear electronic locker.
One clever detail speaks to how people might actually use this truck: a 15-kW power takeoff. It’s capable of running heavy loads off-grid, and the dual NEMA 14-50 outlets can charge two EVs simultaneously. Bring friends. Or be the friend who keeps everyone moving.
Chassis and cooling are built for trail punishment. TRD developed a billet long-travel kit with Fox 2.5 Performance Elite Series shocks (drawing on learnings from the Tundra), plus a Tundra-derived front brake upgrade. It rolls on 17×8.5-inch wheels wrapped in 35×12.5R17 off-road tires. Thermal management borrows from both Tacoma TRD Pro and Lexus RZ components. For recovery and protection, it wears heavy-duty bumpers with integrated points, a winch, and dual swingouts. There’s a custom camper on top with recycled carbon-fiber aero panels, bed-mounted tie-downs, and built-in storage for recovery boards. Lighting is DOT-compliant and includes lightbars, fogs, and camp illumination.
The concept’s most unusual trick is a patent-pending exhaust water recovery system. Because a fuel cell’s byproduct is water, the Tacoma captures and filters that output for camp use. The water is essentially distilled—good for washing or showering, not recommended for drinking. It’s a neat example of how hydrogen’s quirks can be turned into utility, though it also underlines the big hurdle for FCEVs: access to fueling beyond a few pockets in California. As a technology demonstrator, though, the H2-Overlander makes the case that hydrogen and battery systems can tag-team heavy-duty, low-noise work in the wild.
A quick word on design
Each build has its own personality. The Land Cruiser’s square-shouldered body suits the OEM-quiet approach and the understated silver hue; the 1.5-inch lift and 35s add presence without shouting. The Camry GT-S reads like a tuner special straight from a showroom—lowered just right, wheels pushed out, brakes peeking through, and that high-chroma paint putting a spotlight on the surfacing. The bZ concept is unapologetically track-first, its wing and splitters sending a clear message about functional aero. And the Tacoma is pure purpose with its protective bumpers, integrated winch, and a camper that looks engineered rather than improvised. None of it feels random, which isn’t always the case at SEMA.
Context inside Toyota’s many-path approach
Put all four together and the throughline is obvious. Toyota keeps investing across internal combustion, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, battery-electrics, and fuel cells—not as a marketing slogan, but as a set of engineering playgrounds. The Turbo Trail Cruiser borrows the Tundra’s i-FORCE twin-turbo V6 to reframe a classic, while the Camry GT-S shows how the 2025 Camry Hybrid (specifically the XSE AWD) could wear more attitude without abandoning its 232-hp powertrain. The bZ Time Attack treats an EV as a canvas for aero and additive manufacturing, and the Tacoma H2-Overlander borrows Mirai know-how to take hydrogen off the highway and into the backcountry. Along the way you see fingerprints from elsewhere in the lineup: Tacoma TRD Pro cooling ideas, Lexus RZ components, and connections to Toyota’s 86 Cup and Corolla TC race programs.
Reality checks and fine print
These are special project prototypes with parts and fabrication methods not offered at dealers. Modifications like these can affect safety and durability, may cancel warranties, and some changes aren’t legal for road use. Specs such as price, top speed, or towing ratings aren’t provided. For reference, the production 2026 bZ AWD platform is quoted at 338 hp with a 0–60 mph time of 4.9 seconds; the Time Attack car goes beyond that but without official performance claims.
Where the experiments point
SEMA is often about spectacle. Toyota brought ideas instead. A factory-style Land Cruiser restomod with serious torque. A Camry that explores the middle ground between dealer accessory and track day hardware. An electric widebody that uses 3D printing as a performance tool. And a hydrogen Tacoma that doubles as a quiet campsite generator. None of them is a production promise, and that’s okay. What matters is the diversity of solutions—from the Tundra-sourced i-FORCE V6 to the Mirai fuel cell—and how they sketch Toyota’s next moves, whether that’s more expressive hybrids, sharper BEVs, or off-roaders that power the trailhead. It’s a busy future, but this is one way to make sense of it.
