Toyota Supra fans can celebrate — finally.
We mean it this time. Truly.
The company officially announced it plans to debut the long-awaited return of Toyota’s beloved sports car at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January.
Toyota has been trolling Supra fans for some time, really whipping them into a frenzy in March at the Geneva Motor Show, where it revealed a track-only concept version of the sports car named the GR Supra Racing concept.
(Toyota unofficially confirms new Supra coming to Detroit Auto Show. Click Here for the story.)
The car was described as the precursor to the road version of a new Supra, but it still wouldn’t comment on when it would arrive until now. And when it arrives, it will promptly be auctioned off for charity at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, Jan. 19.
What we have learned about Supra is that it stretches 180.1 inches nose-to-tail, with a wheelbase of 97.2 inches, a height of 48.43 inches and a width of 80.63 inches. It’s believed to weigh in somewhere around 3,284 pounds.
Underneath the skin, the new Supra will share its basic foundation with the all-new BMW Z4 that did show up at the Paris Motor Show earlier today. The two manufacturers entered into an unusual alliance that underscores the strange bedfellow nature of today’s auto industry where erstwhile competitors are finding reason to work together.
In this case, sources from the two companies explained, it simply wouldn’t have been cost-justifiable for either maker to bring new models to market on their own considering the decline in demand for sports cars.
(Click Here for more about the Supra’s twin, the BMW Z4.)
BMW clearly played the lead in much of the basic development program, though the two projects split off as they came closer to production ready. But it is widely expected that the Toyota Supra will share a both a base four and a turbocharged inline-six with BMW which will produce both powertrains.
How the specs will compare with the BMW roadster’s will likely not come out until January. But the 2019 Z4 sDrive 30i will feature a 2.0-liter TwinPower turbocharged inline four making 255 horsepower and 295 pound feet, and eight-speed automatic pumping power to the rear wheels. BMW claims the 2019 Z4 30i will be able to hit 60 in 5.2 seconds.
The M40i gets a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline six pumping out 382 hp and 369 lb-ft. That’s a full 47 more ponies than the old M edition, and it will thrust you to 60 in just 4.4 seconds. The M40i will share the base Z4’s eight-speed automatic.
Working together, Toyota and BMW opted for a double-joint spring strut front suspension – something that should seem familiar to 3-Series owners. In the rear, look for Supra to share Z4’s five-link design.
(To get details about Magna Steyr building the new Supra and Z4, Click Here.)
While there will be a number of key technical solutions shared between the two sports cars, we’re pleased to see that with the Supra, Toyota isn’t following the badge-engineered design route it took when it launched what was originally known as the Scion FR-S. It turned out to be a virtually identical twin to the Subaru BRZ.
