In what may be the clearest and most plausible interpretation so far, we may be looking at a very close approximation of the next Toyota Supra. Japanese auto enthusiast magazine Best Car have, or are about to, publish rather detailed images of the upcoming flagship coupe.
Members of the SupraMKV forum community, meanwhile, were able to obtain images of an advanced copy that features the car in differing variants while also fleshing out more of its mechanical aspects as well as its exact dimensions. As you’d expect, these have not been confirmed of denied by Toyota.
Other parties have tried peddling their own renditions of what the all-new Supra will look, but this take seem to be the most convincing yet. Best Car is also quite reputed to have the inside scoop on new cars from Japanese manufacturers, often leaking specifications and near-fully accurate visuals of cars still under wraps.
According to the magazine, the Supra will have power sourced from a 3.0-litre turbocharged inline-6 petrol with roughly 250kW and 450Nm, mated to an 8-speed automatic transmission. Apparently, no mention was made of any potential hybrid assist drive or a manual gearbox option. As a consolation, it purports that its 0-100km/h acceleration time is an impressive 3.8 seconds.
The Toyota Supra is one of those cars that, given its status within the enthusiast community and the external fame it found in the mainstream, many people are looking forward to see return after the previous generation ended production in 2002.
While we pretty much can be certain that a car related to an all-new Supra will be gracing the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, Toyota seem to be hinting that it may well not be the production car despite the many sightings of the prototype undergoing circuit and road testing for many months.
Rather, the Geneva showcase might be a racing car based on the new model, but without giving away too much detail about what eager future customers can expect when the car hits the showroom. This is vaguely similar to what BMW has done with their upcoming 8 Series, the two-door grand touring coupe that’s also expected to be sharing floorspace in Geneva in production form.
BMW first showed off the car, which replaces the 6 Series Coupe, last year but began a motorsport development campaign based upon that as-yet unreleased product. Coincidentally, it’s widely known now that both BMW and Toyota have embarked on a joint sports car development program, with one half of that resulting in potentially an all-new Supra (name not yet confirmed) while the other will be the next Z4 roadster.
Thus, the engine details of the new Supra according to Best Car is entirely consistent with previous reports that BMW is supplying the drivetrain. The outputs for both peak power and torque are an exact match for the German automaker’s B58 straight-six, lifted from such variants as the 240i, 340i, and X3 M40i, explaining why ZF’s 8HP torque converter auto box seem to be attached to the Supra as well.
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