‘FT’ means Future Toyota, and is a label given to Toyota concept cars. The ‘86’ plays on the Toyota Corolla GT Coupe, the 1.6-litre DOHC, rear-wheel drive coupe that enthusiasts refer to by its AE86 chassis-code. The implication, then, is that the FT-86 is a 21st century AE86.

The FT-86 tag will be dropped for production. At the time of our drive, there was still a great deal of debate as to what the car would be called. The engineers were very keen on the AE86 link, while the marketeers thought that very few people would know what that symbolised – they preferred Celica. It is, however, likely that an 86 suffix will appear in some markets.
AH WAA? Are they saying that the Celica name is a nice name or did they prefer the Celica name for the FT-86. I'm boozled here.