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Everything We Know About The New Toyota Supra

All-but-confirmed rumors of a rebooted Toyota Supra, coupled with numerous leaks, have made it one of the worst-kept secrets in the car industry. Here’s everything we know so far.

ON THE OUTSIDE

Externally, the new Supra shares much with its predecessor. A classic coupe profile, two doors and a long hood are nothing new. It’s likely that it’ll be very close to the concept, with a sharply pointed front end and wide hips. The production version retains the concept’s triple LEDs and simple bladelike running lights, but appears to add an extra intake where the concept’s nose reached down the front fascia. It’s not clear from the spy photos whether the production car retains the concept’s dazzling clear hood, but it’s not likely as this is something rarely seen on any front-engined cars.

The new Supra Concept

Around back, the most recent spy shots show LED taillights breaking away from the early mules’ simple circles, instead favoring a somewhat squashed triangle and line reminiscent of those on the concept. Unfortunately, the production version does lose the vertical slats below the lights, which is questionable as they add a lot of style and have already been implemented on production cars for years (think LFA). The spoiler is also nicely integrated into the body instead of being tacked on.

The Supra Concept’s taillights vs. the production car

ON THE INSIDE

The new Supra is expected to share some, if not many, interior bits with modern BMWs thanks to Toyota’s partnership with the German firm. In the shot above, we see most of the center console, including the strange shifter, has been ripped straight from a BMW. This doesn’t seem to be the final interior, though, as the newer shots below show a different center console paired with a BMW steering wheel.

Of course, the car will likely be far from a BMW parts bin special, but it’s nice to know that the Supra will get a whiff of the interior quality that’s been a strong point of BMWs over the last couple years, now that iDrive’s myriad kinks have mostly been ironed out.

The most noteworthy thing in this shot is an interesting digital instrument cluster that looks to be all screen in the middle, flanked by physical gauges; this differs from Toyota’s previous approach to digital gauges with the LFA, which had a physical gauge inside the screen that moved about depending on drive mode. The Supra also appears to share BMW’s controller knob, likely complete with touch sensitivity allowing you to write right on it with your finger.

UNDER THE SKIN

The Supra is likely to be outfitted with two engine options mirroring those of its sister car, the new BMW Z4 that was recently leaked. A leaked document showing BMW’s model codes for the two cars reveal a four-cylinder model (no word on exact displacement) giving around 250hp and a six-cylinder, likely shared with the M2, outputting around 335hp. Europe will get an extra four-cylinder, but it’ll only be available on the Z4, not the Supra.

By far the most shocking news to come out of the document is the fact that the Supra probably won’t come with a manual transmission. As this document is a couple months old and the car, of course, isn’t official yet, it’s not completely out of the question. If it does come with a manual, it’ll also likely be filched from BMW, which is little hardship as the current M2 has one of the best manual gearboxes on the market. However, it’s entirely possible Toyota will elect to push the new Supra as less of a small, zippy sports car than a grown-up GT; this would likely be to avoid encroaching on the small, zippy 86’s market share.

TL;DR

In summary, the new Supra will look much like its concept, and be powered by either a 250hp-ish four-cylinder or a 335hp-ish six-cylinder. It probably won’t come with a manual and will be twinned in Europe with the next-generation BMW Z4. It’s likely to be officially unveiled toward the end of this year or in the first months of 2018.

Alex Harrington

Alex started racing at a young age so certainly knows his way around a car and a track. He can just about put a sentence together too, which helps. He has a great interest in the latest models, but would throw all of his money at a rusty old French classic and a 300ZX. Contact: [email protected]

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