Ever since Toyota family scion and avid racer Akio Toyoda took the reins of the Japanese carmaker we’ve been hopeful of a revival of its glory days. Slowly but steadily there have been changes in the group’s strategy and direction. First was the Lexus LFA, then the Toyota 86, both of which marked significant shifts from what the respective brands have been doing for many years. But die-hard fans of good-old Toyota were still clamouring for a revival of models like the Celica, MR2 and the Supra.
We all know that Toyota and BMW have been working together since 2012 on a new sportscar, and the FT-1 concept revealed at the Detroit show of 2014 added to the anticipation. Now, in this latest set of spy shots, you can see the jointly developed sportscar being tested in Germany. Although heavily camouflaged, the test car seems to be similar in proportions to the FT-1 Concept, although the design elements seem to have been toned down compared to the concept. The front end is disguised heavily but you can see small round taillights at the back. Although Toyota is yet to confirm that this sportscar will be called the Supra, we are pretty sure the celebrated nameplate will be revived.
Whether it will be called Supra or not, the new sportscar will be rear-wheel-drive and the powertrain lineup is expected to include both four- and six-cylinder engine. There have been rumours that a Lexus-sourced twin-turbo V6 will power the top-spec variant of the sportscar, while the lower model will use a Toyota four-pot. A higher performance hybrid-powered variant is also likely to be introduced.
The car, along with its BMW counterpart, will be assembled by Magna Steyr in Austria, with production set to begin in 2018. That means we will most likely see the Supra coming out as a 2019 model.
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