A frequent complaint about Toyota has been the company’s focus on uninspiring, bland designs that forsake any kind of excitement. For those looking for performance models and an engaging driving experience, there are no offerings.

That is a dangerous position to be for a mainstream manufacturer that needs to engage enthusiasts and the youth market. The super expensive LFA isn’t going to cut it in this regard. The joint Toyota/Subaru sportscar, previewed by the original FT-86 Concept and followed by the Scion FR-S Concept, is Toyota’s answer to this problem.

A new report on fan forum Club4AG says that the car is being developed with no expenses spared, and sheds light on some interesting details about the cars program. This information was gleaned from a meeting between site member Moto-P and chief project engineer Tetsuya Tada.

Toyota is assigning top priority to the program, with Chief Executive Officer Akio Toyoda personally overseeing and selecting key people involved in the program. He is even said to stop in and drive the car, giving it a major champion within the company.

While there is a lot of hype and excitement (this a major fan), there are a few pieces of information that stick out. For one, the dash is reportedly being designed to easily accommodate a roll cage without requiring the dash to be cut up. This would enable the car to be easily used in competitions. Under the hood, the car would have mounts to easily switch out to Subaru’s boxer four-cylinder.

The standard Toyota engine is said to get its sounds tuned by Yamaha, in order to have a top notch aural experience worthy of the car’s aspirations. Interestingly, the website member also floats the idea of no CD player or navigation system. This would save weight and cut down on cost. There would be an iPod/MP3 player hookup though – and the thinking is that this would be the perfect setup for the younger buyers Toyota is aiming for with this.

We’re keen on seeing if this information turns out to carry over to the production car, and more excited than ever before for the new sportscar to be unveiled.

Since Toyota’s acquisition of a 17.1% stake in Subaru’s parent company Fuji Heavy Industries in 2008, the automotive press has speculated by a sports car developed between the two.

The FT-86 Concept at the Tokyo Auto Show in 2009 previewed Toyota’s version of the car. We haven’t heard much from Subaru until a recent confirmation of a concept coming to the Geneva Motor Show. Now it’s Toyota’s turn, confirming an FT-86 for the Geneva Motor Show.

Notice A FT-86 not THE FT-86, because the new car is just a concept once again. It is dubbed the FT-86 Concept II, and promises to be much closer to the final production version.

We just want to see the production car already though. Toyota, with a spate of bad news recently, is milking this one for all its worth however.

It has been criticized for making boring, passionless cars, but in its press release Toyota says the car “embodies the company’s reborn passion for sports car driving.” What do you think, is the FT-86 II likely to be the real deal or are you already sick of hearing about it?

Toyota’s efforts to capture the youth market haven’t performed as well as they had hoped. The Toyota brand has been bogged down by recalls and reliability issues, but there is a deeper underlying problem. The company has seemingly abandoned the enthusiasts altogether, and with it the youth market.

The Toyota FT-86 Concept was introduced in an effort to combat that. Toyota has aimed to attract young enthusiasts by producing an affordable, rear-wheel drive coupe. That definitely is a good way to start doing that.

The latest reports have pegged the new model coming under the Scion brand here in America. But what about the Subaru version….the much-discussed “Toyabaru?” It has been confirmed to make an appearance at the Geneva Motor Show.

Subaru is one of the only brands to have actually thrived throughout the economic downturn, and Toyota has a 16.5% stake in its parent company, Fuji Heavy Industries. A rear-wheel drive sports car has been in joint development between the two companies since 2008.

We’ve seen Toyota’s concept, the FT-86 but nothing from Subaru. We’re slated to get our first glimpse of Subaru’s model at Geneva.

Unfortunately, the car debuting won’t be the production version, but instead a lightly-vieled preview dubbed the Subaru Rear-Wheel Drive Sports Car Technology Concept.

Rear-wheel drive as in, not likely to be all-wheel drive like most Subarus. There has been so much anticipation for these two particular cars, we can’t wait until the production versions finally are announced.

When that will happen is anyone’s guess. Until then though, Geneva will hold us over about what’s in store for Subaru’s version of the new sportsc

Aside from the unintended acceleration fiasco, Toyota has also seen itself trending upward in buyer age. To us, there is an easy explanation – product.

President Akio Toyoda has supposedly set out to fix that, and one of the signs of that realization was the FT-86 Concept at last year’s Tokyo Auto Show.

The FT-86 Concept is a vehicle that looks very close to production, and offers a compelling specifications list. A price tag in the $20K range, two-doors and a rear-wheel drive layout is something that appeals to enthusiasts.

At the time, production was pegged as a certainty. Not a whole lot has been heard about it recently, but a little over a year later the rumor mill is churning about the car’s future. If a report from the Wall Street Journal is to be believed, Tthe car that was supposed to attract a youth element to the Toyota division could instead be badged as a Scion.

Scion hasn’t quite exactly filled out its original directive, and that has a lot to do with a lack of product. That is being remedied with the 2011 tC, but more than that is needed.

Could a production FT-86 make a good fit for Scion? We think so, but it seems to defeat Toyota’s original purpose for the car. Regardless, we’ll take whatever we can get in the way of performance from Toyota or Scion.

So we know the FT-86 concept is a lock for production and now speculation is turning to what it will be named. FT-86 is obviously not the final production name, with the moniker chosen to pay homage to the Toyota Corolla AE-86 GT.

The names under consideration, as reported by Autocar and The Detroit Bureau are Celica and surprisingly – Scion tC?  In producing the FT-86, Toyota’s goal is to make a vehicle that will help build excitement.

I assumed, along with most others, that this would mean the car would be coming to the United States wearing the Toyota badge. Toyota is the volume brand and is in need of new buyers. It’s possible that Toyota still hasn’t given up on it’s supposed youth brand and might use the car as a way to jumpstart it.

At this point I think it is more important to work on the volume brand. That still begs the question though of what it will be badged as internationally. Celica seems to be a likely prospect.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda has made some interesting comments lately, saying that Toyota is in a state of decline and needs to excitement to help pull them out of it. Is the sky falling? No, but there are things that need to be fixed.

Toyota is in desperate need of excitement and design injected into it’s products. Toyota’s effort to connect with a younger demographic through Scion hasn’t fared very well (or as well as the company hoped). The FT-86 is the company’s attempt to do that for the Toyota brand.

The FT-86 was designed at Toyota’s  European Development (ED2) facility in France. While not groundbreaking  (as some would seem to claim) the car and it’s design are a big step forward for Toyota.

I like the view from the rear is the best – there’s no doubt this is one of the best looking Toyotas in years. The inside I like a lot, with a unique control area that is canted toward the driver. Hopefully we’ll see some of this design in the production car.

For quite some time, we’ve been hearing about how Toyota and Subaru would be collaborating on a sports car. The FT-86 is a result of those rumors. Apparently, Subaru will be getting it’s own version of the car as well. The real story with the FT-86 has to do with the specifications.

The FT-86 is powered not by a Toyota engine, but by Subaru’s 2.0L “Boxer” engine (WRX, anyone?). With that engine, power to the rear wheels and an asking price of around $20,000, the FT-86′s specifications read like a wish list of what many have been asking for.

With the FT-86, it is Toyota’s aim to get a younger demographic to the brand. There’s a lot of goodwill for Toyota,  and I could see the FT-86 being quite successful, if they execute it right.