While many car companies focused on horsepower and size during the past decade, Toyota staked its reputation on dependability and eco-friendly hybrids.

Toyota’s leadership is now calling for more excitement (a.k.a. speedy performance) to go with its green image.

Automotive News reported this week that Toyota President Akio Toyoda is ordering engineers and designers to spice up the brand's image. "I wanted a car that shows what we are aiming for, something affordable, fun to drive and good for the environment," Toyoda said. He points to the MR2 hybrid sports concept as the kind of product he expects from a new focus on fun.

When Toyota unveiled the MR2 Sports Hybrid Concept at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January, observers gave it a zero percent chance of being produced. The 400-horsepower MR2 hybrid is based on the MR2 platform that was nixed from the U.S. market in 2005.

The MR2 Sports Hybrid Concept combines a 3.3-liter V6, used to drive the rear wheels through a continuously variable transmission, and an electric motor for the front wheels. The concept has an estimated zero-to-60 time under 4.5 seconds.

Mr. Toyoda’s desire for pizazz and power, as well as fuel parsimony, goes a long way to explain why he decided to team up with Tesla Motors. The partnership between Tesla and Toyota creates high-power excitement, but it’s too early to tell if it will lead to any real product. Marketwatch reported that Tesla recent IPO amendment filing states the two companies “have not entered into any agreements” to make electric vehicles together, and “may never do so.”

When the Tesla-Toyota deal was announced, Toyota’s Jana Hartline, environmental communications manager, told us that the company’s electric vehicle plans have not changed. Toyota is still focused on a “limited range urban commuter car,” along the lines of the Toyota FT-EV.

A small electric car doesn’t match the driving excitement of a Tesla or the Toyota MR2 Sports Hybrid Concept.  Yet, a practical and affordable electric car, and an entire family of Priuses, represents clarity of purpose about bringing affordable hybrids and other electric-drive car to a mass market.  Then again, skipping trips to the gas station is a whole different kind of fun—while we wait for the sportier brand of hybrid Mr. Toyoda has in mind.

Toyota MR2 Sports Hybrid Concept