This 2001 Toyota concept could have solved the housing crisis

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. 

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. 

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. 

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…

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. 

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. Speaking of crazy concepts, though, wouldn’t the DMT be just the thing now to solve the housing crisis? Imagine rows and rows of them parked in those supermarket bays at the back that no one ever uses. Conveniently located public housing for thousands of people. Bosh, no need to thank us, the government. 

Sure, our plan to house people in endless thousands of DMTs would probably evoke a strong reaction. “Hellishly depressing” and “no way to live” are strong sentences to throw around, but we think you’d get used to your new way of life quickly enough. Worried about the lack of space? Park your new starter home near a park. You can stroll around and feed the ducks to your heart’s content. Though watch out after dark, we hear it gets a bit dicy. 

The problem is that the world needs more visionaries like us around – Top Gear has long proven itself adept at challenging the perceived norms of modern mobility, and this is no exception. Of course, Toyota still makes vans, and they’re basically all the same, aren’t they? Steering wheel, large space in the back. Especially given that the firm’s current generation of Proace vans are built on the same platform as the Vauxhall Vivaro, Peugeot Expert and Citroen Jumpy. Not a problem, though – even more vans that could be turned into houses.