Wake yourself up before you go go

This is the Toyota DMT concept, which was unveiled at the 2001 Tokyo motor show, where the slogan was "Open the Door! The Automobile's Bright Future". We think it might be one of those things where the meaning evaporates in translation. That year's Tokyo show also saw debuts for the Daihatsu Copen and Mazda RX-8. 

What does DMT mean?

Something-something-tomato, isn’t it? Wait, we’ll look it up. Oh right. It’s the Dual Mode Traveller, which sounds like one of those suitcases you see adverts for on the internet. The dual mode was a reference to the hybrid nature of the van, because while it was all conventional up front, in the back it was designed to be a versatile space for owners to take advantage of. 

What was the DMT actually for?

The car that Toyota showed off at the 2001 Tokyo event had an office set up in the back of it – from what we can see a well-read administrator with a taste for repurposing Ikea furniture. It was intended to be an adaptable space, however, with the potential only limited by the owner’s imagination and budget. There was a partition between the front cabin and rear space, but a door opened up and there was a step into the back.

A home office away from home, if you will. 

What was under the bonnet?

There weren’t many details about the set-up underneath the bonnet, but we do know that the CMT was powered by a 2.4-litre petrol engine that also saw action in the RAV4 and Previa models around the same time. If the DMT had gone into production though, it would surely have been ripe for one of the Japanese carmaker’s hybrid powertrains…

What was the DMT like inside?

The DMT was very airy up front, with none of the usual oppressive space restrictions you associate with being stuck in the cabin of a working van. Light woods, crazy looking chairs with headrests apparently inspired by toilet rolls… The dashboard controls looked like they were modelled on the iPod (if you’re too young to remember, this was a stylish portable music player designed by Apple) and the full-width instrument panel in front of the windscreen glowed an enticing blue.

Any crazy concept car touches?

Aside from the notion that anyone would be excited about cramming their home office into the back of a van, the Toyota DMT was remarkably free of concept car madness. Sticking a crazy set of 23-inch wheels on instead of those sad little things wouldn't have killed them. From the outside, the DMT did have the look of a car that had had a van land on top of it and then they just welded them together. The only concept car whimsy was perhaps the refreshingly pointless folding hard-top sunroof.

Here you have a place where you can work right in the heart of the CBD and visit your clients, or have them visit you (if they do not mind that reeky heap of laundry in the corner). Or you could take-off to meet the parents (where you can make use of their washer), and not let them know that you are actually living just below, in their public housing carpark... wash, rinse, repeat... on a low sud formula.