Toyota Supra: Production Of Toyota Supra Confirmed to Get Early 2019 Reveal

Toyota is bringing back the beloved Supra, with help from BMW. Here's what we know about it.

Fans of the Toyota Supra have endured a 16-year wait for the Japanese carmaker to launch a fifth-generation version of the iconic car. Their patience is about to be rewardedThe company has confirmed that the production-ready version of the Supra will be unveiled at next year’s Detroit Auto Show, which takes place between 14 and 27 January.

Described by Auto Express as “one of the        most keenly anticipated cars of next year”, the  new vehicle has already appeared in prototype and racing form, but the production model has been kept firmly under wraps. The Supra will be built on the same carbon-fibre architecture as the upcoming BMW Z4 and shares much of its design with the Toyota FT-1, a concept that first appeared in 2014.With only a couple of months to go until the covers come off, here’s everything we know so far about the new Supra.

Supra's chief engineer Tetsuya Tada recently sat down with members of the automotive press and provided several key details about what'll lurk under the Toyota coupe's skin. In an interview with AutoGuide, Tada-san confirmed that the Supra will stick to its roots and pack a turbocharged straight-six under its hood, calling the setup "an indispensable element." Also confirmed are a 50/50 weight distribution, no rear seats, and a center of gravity even lower than that of the Boxer-engined 86. 

Toyota has been keeping the design of the new Supra under wraps. Even the development mules spotted testing on the 12.9-mile Nurburgring race track in Germany have been covered in camouflage aimed at concealing the styling.  

However, alleged images of the car in production guise were published in Japanese magazine Best Car earlier this year. SupraMkV.com

The car in the pictures has many of the same features as the company’s four-year-old FT-1 concept car, including the duck-tail spoiler, sculpted roof, muscular wheel arches and carbon-fibre side skirts.  

After the images surfaced, in February, Toyota previewed a near-production-ready example of the Supra. Although still covered in a thin layer of camouflage, the car in the official images appears identical to that in the leaked pictures. 

New Toyota Supra: we raid the parts catalogue

CAR has gained access to what purports to be an electronic parts catalogue (EPC) for the new Supra, listed among a swathe of BMW models. Don't forget, the Supra shares its CLAR platform with the new Z4...

We've had a good look through the parts available, and there's a decent amount of information to be gleaned about the specs of the Supra, which is listed in European and American specifications, with both left- and right-hand drive configurations.

The following are implicitly noted:

• B48D (20i and 30i four-cylinder turbos) and B58C (40i six-cylinder turbo) BMW engines, all with eight-speed automatic gearbox. No manual listed
• M Sport differential
• Wheels of 17, 18 and 19-inch diameters
• LED headlights available
• Sports seats available with electric adjustment and memory
• Toyota steering wheel with shift paddles
• Wireless charging, Bluetooth, sat-nav
• Head-up display
• Automatic air-con
• Front and rear parking sensors

You can also see images of many parts on the site, and we've spotted what looks like BMW switchgear for the air-con and infotainment, but no indication it'll use an iteration of iDrive or one of Toyota's media systems.

We've also seen a part listed as 'body skeleton', which shows the exterior design of the car including sculpted rear haunches, a double-bubble roof and high transmission tunnel.

New Toyota Supra: everything else you need to know

The new Toyota Supra is set to shake up the sports car market early next year, with 350bhp thrills, a turbo six-cylinder engine, curvaceous double-bubble roof, 0-62mph time of around four seconds and a price tag topping £50,000. If you like compact sports cars and were in the queue for a Porsche 718 Cayman, Alpine A110 or Jaguar F-type, it looks like your shopping list just got a little longer. 

Supra is one of the most iconic names in Toyota’s long history and four decades after the first model was unveiled, we’re about to get a new one. Codenamed A90, the new model is a joint project with the forthcoming BMW Z4, and as it nears production, we’re learning more and more about what could be next year’s most exciting sports car. 

Appearances at Goodwood and elsewhere

The new Supra made regular runs up the hill at the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed - and we can now vouch for what looks like hard acceleration and a multi-cylinder engine rasp on work-outs up the Duke of Richmond's driveway.

During Goodwood, Toyota went on record to say the 'new Supra will be faithful to its heritage with an inline, front-mounted six-cylinder engine and rear-wheel drive.' Phew. The UK distributor showed the cars to loyal Supra fan clubs in July 2018, as it drums up interest in the newcomer. Goodwood marked the very first time the actual Supra production car has been seen anywhere in the world. Driven by chief engineer Tetsuya Tada and the company's superbly named 'master driver' Herwig Daenens, you can see a picture of it in its camo'd livery above. 

And at this year’s Le Mans 24 Hour race, we sat down to talk Supra with Tada, who's also the chief engineer of the GT86 coupe. From transmission and engine details, to the development process and a forthcoming GRMN version, he revealed several new nuggets about the new Toyota Supra.

Twinned with BMW: why the Z4 and Supra share DNA

It’s no secret that BMW and Toyota have teamed up to create the new Z4/Supra platform, and the reasons behind the collaboration are largely financial. It’s a reflection of a shrinking global market for sports cars that two giants of manufacturing are teaming up to get the efficiencies of scale required to get the project off the ground.

However, it appears that the initial desire to save costs and share parts meant the joint project got off to a less than ideal start. ‘We started discussions with BMW saying “Let’s increase the amount of shared parts, let’s make everything efficient” – that was the starting point,’ explains Tada-san. ‘It didn’t quite match, and there was one instance where BMW came up and said – what do you want? It seems like you're making compromises for the sake of efficiency.’

After that, Toyota and BMW began to develop the individual cars they wanted, and then looked for common areas where it made sense to share hardware. Our spy photos have previously revealed more of the new 2+2 sports car's styling, as engineers hone it before final sign-off.

There won’t be as many parts shared as you think; we’re told that the new Supra now only shares six - six! - components with the Z4. There's the engine and transmission, just the door mirrors and two others parts that are common between them. 

Okay, we're being generous by swallowing the engine being one component line - but both camps are adamant these two cars are not merely badge-engineered sports car twins.

So what about the Toyota Supra engine and transmission? 

The Supra shares the same engine and transmission as the latest BMW Z4, so expect a range-topping turbocharged inline six generating a rumoured 330bhp and 450Nm (or 332lb ft) coupled to an eight-speed automatic transmission. We've seen the new the Z4 snapped in development with a six-speed manual, but CAR understands it's unlikely to make it to production at this stage. Shame.

The Z4 will be manufactured in Austria by Magna Steyr at its Graz production facility - the go-to overflow release valve when car manufacturers can't squeeze a new model into their existing factory network. The Supra will be built at a Toyota factory, CAR understands.

Rumours suggest that the Supra will feature a mixture of four- and six-cylinder BMW units, mostly turbocharged and available with dual-clutch transmissions. This suggests they might launch with a toppy six-pot, and then grow sales and/or stretch the range with four-cylinder engines in due course.

Will there be a manual transmission? 

It looks like Toyota is still ironing the details of its forthcoming sports car. A few months ago, rumours suggested that the Supra would come in auto configuration only, but a new interview with Masayuki Kai, the assistant chief engineer on the Supra project, says otherwise.

According to the new interview, there could still be a manual in the pipeline, because Toyota has already developed it. However, the decision to offer it is still very much up in the air, and the manual box does make it to production, it could only be available on right-hand drive cars: Good news for us Japanese and British folk, but not the American market.

‘[A manual ‘box]  is not yet finally decided, and depending on feedback from the market, we will decide if we should introduce a manual transmission,” Kai said in an interview to Car Advice.

‘We have developed it, yes, there is hardware ready. Right-hand drive? Yes, of course. It needs to be sold in Japan, which is a right-hand drive market.’ So the jury’s out… 

But I thought...

Yes, we thought a manual was out of the question, too. A few months ago an interview with Toyota chief engineer Tada and Japanese magazine Info Seek, states there wouldn’t be a manual ‘box. When asked in spring 2018 if the new Supra would be coming with a manual transmission, Tada replied: ‘At the moment, it is not; it is just a dual-clutch transmission.’

Tada went on to say that’s partly because the new car could produce too much torque for a manual gearbox. However, we have since learned that the BMW Z4 will offer a manual option. Watch this space, as they say...

We've driven the new Toyota Supra – read our prototype verdict here

Will it still feel like a Toyota Supra?

Engineers cite a 50:50 weight distribution as being a key objective of the new shared Toyota-BMW rear-wheel drive architecture and torsional rigidity is said to surpass that of the composite-bodied LF-A, which bodes well for handling and poise on the road – but apart from that the cars should drive very differently, according to the respective engineers.

Toyota is confident we’ll be able to notice the differences between the two straight away. ‘In terms of calibration and other areas we take a completely different approach,’ Tada reassured CAR magazine. ‘You will feel like you’re in a different car with different tastes.’ 

Whereas the Z4 prototype we’ve driven appears to be a sporty, elegant convertible, the Supra is going to be a far more focused sports car. ‘We’ve not considered things like practicality or comfort,’ Tada says, while adding that the Z4 is designed for a totally different audience.

What will the new 2018 Toyota Supra look like?

First hinted at with the  FT-1 concept, and then again with the Supra Racing concept (above), the general look of Toyota’s next sports car is already out in the open. But at Le Mans, we dug out more insight into how it was designed. And it seems certain to continue the wide rear beloved of the earlier four generations of Supra (the last model was the A80, paving the way for the new 2019 A90 Supra).

‘We wanted to make it so at a glance you recognise it, so we went through many discussions with the designer of the car and this is how we came up with the design,’ says Tada. ‘There were some focal points or cues of the design taken from the previous Supra. For example, the rear fender, where we had that kind of volume; we said that’s the sexy part of the design, so we tried to have some cues.’ 

Dimensions of the Supra have been leaked online and, if accurate, suggest a size of:

• Length 4.38m
• Width 1.86m
• Height 1.29m
• Wheelbase 2.47m
• Weight Just under 1500kg

And inside? 

We haven’t seen much of the new Toyota Supra’s interior yet – save for a few dials and a steering wheel - but we know it could be quite snug, for passengers at least. CAR understands that the Supra’s super-aggressive, tapering rear-end has led to a reduction in cabin space - especially compared to the coupe’s BMW Z4 twin.  

Our sources have indicated space is at a premium inside the coupe's interior, with more room dedicated to the driver than the passenger: think McLaren F1-lite, so a 55:45 split, perhaps.

Either way, it’s going to result in an even more driver-focused cabin, which we’re not going to complain about. It’ll be interesting to see if the Supra is still accommodating for taller drivers though, and what its luggage capacity will be.

Hotter Toyota Supra GRMN version already on the way

The Supra is already shaping up to be a high-performance sports car, but Tada confirmed a GRMN model will also be on the way – eventually. Expect the sort of tweaks we’ve already seen on the Toyota Yaris GRMN but turned up to 11, and coming a little while after the standard production car.

Word is, the Toyota Supra specs and trims will look like this:

• Supra Base model
• Supra GR Extra equipment
• Supra GR Sport Sports trim
• Supra GRMN Go-faster version

Will there be a targa Supra, like on the Mk3 and Mk4? Too early to say, but the BMW partner car is obviously an open-top, so don't rule it out, we say...

Supra will go GTE racing too

What’s more, with a shake-up in the WEC rules imminent, it appears Toyota is doubling down on the endurance class. Alongside the new GRMN racing concept which is set to race in the new higher tier of the sport, the new Supra will also complete in the GTE class. That means Toyota will be represented in both classes.

And it looks like Toyota is taking the GTE class very seriously; we were told that designers have gone back and forth between the race car and production car, making sure the GTE version had the best possible platform to work with. Most of the air inlets on the road car were positioned strategically for the GTE version.

Likely Toyota Supra UK price and release date

While we’re not sure yet of the exact price at this stage, we can at least estimate it and we hear a £50,000 UK price is likely. The original model was a rather pricey £40,000 when it launched a quarter of a century ago – the same as a contemporary Lotus Esprit – and that gives an inflation-adjusted figure of £55,000 for a 2019 version of the car. Of course, the final UK price will depend on its competitors, which include:

• Porsche 718 Cayman
• Alpine A110
• Jaguar F-type 4cyl

When can you buy the new Supra in the UK? Toyota has now confirmed it 'expects its new Toyota Supra to reach the market during the first half of 2019.' So not long to wait now...

Bound for Nascar racing future

At this year’s Le Mans 24-hour race, Supra engineering chief Tada confirmed the car would race in the WEC GTE class – but now we know it’s going to race in NASCAR, too. Toyota has confirmed the Supra would compete in the Nascar Xfinity series, replacing the Camry silhouette it currently uses. And you’ll be able to see the Supra Nascar on track on 16 February 2019.

‘When you talk Toyota and cool cars, Supra is the first thing that comes to mind for many auto enthusiasts,’ said Ed Laukes, group vice president of Toyota marketing. ‘Supra’s return in production form is huge news, but now we’re also going to see this iconic sports car return to American motorsport. From a marketing perspective, it’s important to have a race car that evokes the dynamism and character of its showroom counterpart.’

Of course, the Nascar version of the Supra only shares a rough silhouette and design features with the road car, but there are still some interesting details. Most notably, the front and rear lights of the Nascar racer mirror that of the Supra Racing Concept we saw earlier this year, as well as other prototypes we’ve seen. At this point, we’ve got a very good idea of what the new Supra will look like.

source:- carmagazine,the drive,gogle.