Origins
The MR2's life began in 1976 when Toyota launched a design project with the goal of producing a car which would be enjoyable to drive, yet still provide good fuel economy. Initially the purpose of the project was not to design a sports car. The actual design work began in 1979 when Akio Yoshida from Toyota's testing department started to evaluate different alternatives for engine placement and drive method. The choice was finally made to place the engine transversely in the middle of the car. The result was the first prototype in 1981, dubbed the SA-X. From its base design, the car began evolving into an actual sports car, and further prototypes were tested intensely both in Japan and in California. A significant amount of testing was performed on actual race circuits such as Willow Springs, where former Formula One driver Dan Gurney tested the car.
Toyota made its SV-3 concept car public in October 1983 at the Tokyo Motor Show, gathering a huge amount of publicity both from the press and the audience. The car, scheduled to be launched in the second quarter of 1984 in the Japanese market under the name MR2 (which stands for "mid-engine, rear-wheel drive, two-seater"), was to become the first mass-produced mid-engined car to come from a Japanese manufacturer. In France the name was shortened to MR to avoid the similarity in pronunciation of MR2 with the French words est merdeux, meaning "(it) is shitty".
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