Those in the market for the all-new Subaru BRZ and Scion FR-S (Toyota GT 86) will be excited to hear that Yasuyuki Yoshinaga, president of Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., has announced the production of the new jointly-produced sports car will hit 100,000 a year.

At least that’s their goal. The BRZ/FR-S/GT 86 are all produced at the Subaru Gunma Factory in Japan and it looks like the announcement comes hot on the heels of initial order figures. Toyota has already seen 7,000 orders for the GT 86 while the BRZ has garnered the attention of 2,500 enthusiasts. While those numbers are clearly skewed since it’s a brand new car on the market, it’s still far more than what the Japanese automakers planned on selling each month.

Last week we heard that Subaru only has plans to bring 6,000 BRZs to America. Whether or not that will change remains to be seen, but we have a feeling that more customers will opt for the Scion FR-S than the Subaru BRZ in America.

For more Scion FR-S news and info, visit FR-Sforum.com and to discuss the Subaru BRZ, visit SubaruBRZforum.com

[Source: FT-86 Club]

Earlier, we had reason to celebrate as production for the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86 had finally kicked off in Japan. The highly anticipated sports coupe will make its way to America as the Scion FR-S to hot anticipation.

But just in case we’ve all forgotten how great the Toyota GT86/Scion FR-S is, the Japanese automaker released a series of videos featuring Toyota design chief “Dezi” Nagaya at the 2012 Geneva Motor Show talking about the GT86′s design story. The four part series is accompanied with a video featuring Tetsuya Tada, Toyota chief engineer who is the main man behind the acclaimed GT86.

The videos offer insight to the inspirational design of the GT86, including how it pays tribute to the classic Toyota 2000GT. Nagaya also talks about the exterior and interior design, and even goes so far as to tell how the “86″ logo came to usher in the new-generation sports car.

For more Scion FR-S news and info, visit FR-Sforum.com and to discuss the Subaru BRZ, visit SubaruBRZforum.com

Watch the five videos on the Toyota GT86 / Scion FR-S after the break.

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Today at the Gunma factory in Ota-city Japan, a ceremony was held to celebrate the start of production for both the Subaru BRZ and Toyota GT86.

The Toyota GT86 and Subaru BRZ have had lots of media exposure over the last few months, and today the first of both models will roll off the assembly line ready for sale. The event was setup by Fuji Heavy Industries, Subaru’s parent company, in collaboration with Toyota Motor Corporation.

“This car symbolises our corporate strategy in two significant aspects: good progress in our alliance and advancement of our ‘select and focus’ approach. The start of production today made a huge step for us, but it is not our end goal. By constantly refining both models, FHI and TMC hope to nourish each model to be loved by customers all over the world for a long time to come,” said Fuji Heavy Industries President Yasuyuki Yoshinaga.

The alliance between Fuji Heavy Industries and Toyota Motor Corporation began in 2005, and though the car almost never made it to production, today both companies are surely proud of what they have accomplished.

Read AutoGuide’s Scion FR-S review here. 

For more Scion FR-S news and info, visit FR-Sforum.com and to discuss the Subaru BRZ, visit SubaruBRZforum.com

GALLERY: Subaru BRZ, Toyota GT 86 Launch Event

Toyota may have a history in sports cars, but it’s not exactly the most impressive resume. So when the GT 86 (Scion FR-S) was announced and Toyota started explaining its heritage it was hard not to be a bit skeptical.

Seeing the GT 86 on stage next to the rear-drive hard-top 2000 GT, however, and there’s more than just a passing resemblance between the two. For the official debut of the GT 86 in Europe, Toyota has created an impressive display-within-a-display, with its new high profile sports car greeting guests to the Geneva Motor Show at one of the main entrances.

Toyota, for the record, also says inspiration for the GT 86 comes from the original AE 86, as well as the 2000GT’s predecessor, the Sports 800.

Check out all the angles below and see AutoGuide’s complete 2012 Geneva Motor Show coverage here.

GALLERY: Toyota GT 86 and 2000 GT

Read AutoGuide’s Scion FR-S Review here

Last week Scion launched a new online campaign that showed off their darling sports car the FR-S. Visitors were given the opportunity to interact with the car in several ways, similar to any car’s configuration site.

This is unique because the Scion FR-S hasn’t come out yet in North America and likely won’t for be on sale until later this year. The site showed off the different colors, the history and the praise that the car is getting from the automotive press us included. There’s just one odd thing about the site: it’s Canadian.

It’s no mistake. Go to scionfrs.com and you’ll be greeted with a message from web host GoDaddy, asking if you’re interested in buying the domain. Scion hasn’t even registered the site’s domain. But go to scionfrs.ca and you’ll get to experience the whole she-bang.

Why would Scion go through all this trouble for a couple of sweater-wearing, hockey-playing Canucks? Is Canada the right audience for Scion’s new lightweight rear-wheel drive sports car?

We went to Scion Canada for some answers. Scion Canada helped clear things up.

“We knew a lot of customers would be looking to purchase sports cars between March and May, before the arrival of the FR-S. We knew consumers couldn’t decide without having seen the car, so the next best thing was to take consumers to the car,” Scion said

“We’ve given consumers an inside view of what it takes to make a great sports car, letting them explore everything about the vehicle they’re considering. More than just pictures and specs, we included the history to delineate the performance heritage behind our latest sports car.”

It sounds a lot like what every car company considers when deciding to devote a chunk of web-space to a single car, but why Canada?

Accordin to Scion Canada, studies conducted in 2010 found that Canadians spend more time online than any other country, up to 42 hours a month.

“This is even more important for Scion, given that Scion has one of the youngest demographics in the industry. We wanted to present information in a way that’s relevant, so we had to be engaging, informative and exclusive. This was the best way we could do that,” Scion Canada said.

So there you have it: Canadian’s spend more time surfing the internet for, um, cars and therefore deserve cooler sites than Americans, eh.

The Scion FR-S is hotly anticipated to say the least. When we test drove one,  it certainly did not dissapoint.

Scion’s Canadian FR-S website went live today and brought with it the release of some new video’s which add to the excitment surrounding the coupe. The videos showcase Ken Gushi drifting the FR-S, how the painting process works, lots of driving footage, an FR-S being assembled and even footage from the video game Gran Turismo. The clips aren’t all new, but they’re still fun to watch.

Scion even borrowed some AutoGuide footage of the FR-S reveal, yeah we’re that good.

If you’re a die-hard FR-S fan, these videos will get your heart beating a little quicker. We included the best ones after the jump.

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When Toyota announced that the GT 86 would be available as a bare bones model ready for customization, tuners everywhere rejoiced. Unfortunately for Americans, we won’t be getting the option to buy a stripped down Scion FR-S.

The Toyota GT 86 RC will be sold without painted bumpers, air conditioning, or even an audio system, which is great for those who love customizing their cars, or even someone on a tight budget. When first announced, Toyota didn’t specify about the FR-S getting the same treatment. We know now that it will not.  Thanks to the strong Yen and weak American dollar Toyota says that it will likely lose money on a stripped down version of the FR-S in America, so it will not be produced.

We’re groaning a little too, but then again Toyota confirmed that the FR-S will start under $30,000, which is a small price to pay for a new performance car, especially one that we were so enthused by during our review and first drive.

[Source: Automotive News]

What could be cooler than a Toyota GT 86? How about a lighter and less-expensive version, stripped down of all the unwanted frills straight from the factory and ready to be your blank-canvas of customization?

That is exactly what Toyota has done, offering the GT 86 RC model, the perfect package for anyone who wants to convert it into a track car, or modify the hell out of it.

Included in the package are 16-inch steelie wheels that we haven’t seen since the days of a 1993 Honda Civic VX hatchback. The front and rear bumpers, side mirrors, and door handles all come unpainted and of course the fog lights are gone. Even better, the interior comes without air conditioning, all the trim around the steering wheel and shifter and even tosses out the plastic intake cover under the hood – all parts that most car enthusiasts probably would never care for to begin with.

To top it off, Toyota of Japan is pricing this RC model at 1.9-million Yen, which is about $24,600 based on today’s conversion rates. While that’s nothing to really go off of to determine the pricing of the Scion FR-S in America, the point is that it is significantly cheaper than your standard base model GT 86 in Japan. To top it off, it weighs 100-lb less than the base GT 86.

Sadly, the RC trim is currently only available in Japan and Toyota has made no hint that it will offer the RC trim in America.

Check it out below, as well as several other trim models available for the GT 86 overseas, which includes a top-of-the-line GT Limited.

GALLERY: Toyota GT 86 Model Variants

Click here to read AutoGuide’s First Drive of the Scion FR-S

We recently reported that Scion shot a new commercial for their upcoming FR-S sports car with Ken Gushi behind the wheel. What we didn’t know at the time was that Gushi had a hair raising experience with a deer while on the shoot.

And of course the cameras were rolling as he drove through some winding mountain roads in Northern California, and Scion has decided to share the video with the rest of the world. It’s crazy just how close of a call Gushi had with the deer while filming. Luckily Gushi, the deer and the FR-S were unharmed while making the commercial…at least as far as we know!

Watch the video clip after the break and try your best not to gasp.

Read AutoGuide.com’s review of the Scion FR-S here.

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When you’re the CEO of a company, it must bring a sense of pride when a successful product is finally completed after years of hard work.

Steve Jobs over at Apple had great pride in every iPhone that was released, and probably had a huge sense of satisfaction not only using the product he helped develop, but seeing the benefits it has on all the people around him. Akio Toyoda, CEO and President of Toyota, must be extremely proud with their new GT 86 sports car, but boy does he reap all the benefits of being the head of one of the largest automakers in the world.

Toyoda got behind the wheel of their newest creation, but being the CEO means you get to do anything you want without having to answer to anybody. So what better way to really enjoy the newest toy your company has to offer than to take it out onto a dirt track and going sideways in it? Easy, take it out on a giant snow field and go drifting in it.

And judging by the huge smiles on Toyoda’s face in the video, he loves the new GT 86 as much as we did. Autoguide had the opportunity to put the Scion FR-S to the test – you can read our review here – and we would certainly be proud of it if we were in charge of running the famous Japanese automaker. Too bad we didn’t get the chance to take it sideways in the dirt and snow though.

Get more info and news on the GT 86/FR-S forum.

Watch the video after the break, that truly reminds us that the Toyota GT 86 / Scion FR-S will make it “Fun to drive: again.”

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The Toyota GT 86 is being hyped as a drift car extraordinaire, which seems to be a fitting title after watching the video below.

This video comes out of Japan, and shows off two GT 86s, (which will be badged as Scion FR-Ss in North America), drifting around an impromptu pylon marked track. Both the drivers are out having some fun, and showing off their skills for the crowd.

Check out the video abelow, and let us know what you think of the Toyota GT 86 in the comments section below.

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There was absolutely no surprised looks around here when we heard that TRD was hard at work on tuning the all-new Toyota GT 86. It’s been a while since Toyota had such a formidable sports car platform, but we have to admit we’re a little disappointed that a method of forced induction – like a supercharger kit – still hasn’t been announced.

But we’ll give TRD the benefit of the doubt since they’ve already developed such a nice collection of modifications for the new sports car before it has even hit American soil. Our guess is that the majority of these will find their way to America’s Scion FR-S assuming that there’s little to no fitment differences on the products. We can hardly imagine what improvements TRD has made to the sports car, considering that it’s a fantastic machine to drive straight from the factory – read our review here.

Nonetheless, TRD’s full line of products for the GT 86 includes a full styling package with a new front spoiler, side skirts, rear diffuser and rear duck tail wing. For an exhaust upgrade, TRD offers a High Response Muffler Ver.R for the GT 86, sporting a quad-tipped design. For suspension and chassis upgrades, TRD has a front strut tower bar and 40-way damping adjustable suspension kit. Accessories include a radiator and oil cap, HID bulb upgrade, and Door Stabilizer Set.

For wheels and brakes, TRD offers a nicely designed 18-inch SF2 wheel, which is a one-piece forged aluminum wheel. The Big Brake Kit comes with 6-piston front calipers and 4-piston rear calipers with massive 14-inch rotors in the front and the rears are just slightly smaller at 13.6-inch. The BBK comes with new brake pads and stainless steel braided lines of course.

Lastly, the interior also has plenty of TRD goods available including a set of new seats in a black and red theme, TRD shift knob and push start button, and a series of gauges.

For now it’ll calm us down a bit, but seriously TRD… where’s our supercharger at?

GALLERY: TRD Toyota GT 86

[Source: Jon Sibal]

The Toyota GT 86, or Scion FR-S as it will be called in North America, isn’t available yet, but it’s already generating tuner buzz.

We were satisfied with the stock 200-horsepower boxer engine during our review in December, but that’s not quite enough power for some of the folks in the hachi-roku forums. Tetsuya Tada, the car’s chief engineer is encouraging the conversation.

“Some Americans already put a 5.0-liter engine in a Mazda roadster. There are fanclubs who want to do the same with our car. There is no rule to limit that. As manufacturers, we can’t do that. We have to give guarantees. We need to build cars that last. Tuners can try. We welcome that,” Tada said.

The 5.0-liter Mazda mod he’s talking about is, of course, the Monster Miata which gets a Mustang V8 shoehorned surprisingly well in place of it’s stock four banger.

While we don’t see the need to tinker with Toyota’s formula, it’s easy to understand the urge.

“As it is, only highly skilled drivers can make full use of the stock engine. Some people may like to have a higher speed in the straightaway, but there are lots of other cars they can choose,” Tada said,

He even teased the idea of putting a more potent engine into future models, though we aren’t holding our breath.

“For our current engine, we cooperated with Subaru. Maybe we [will] cooperate with Porsche or someone else next time. You can partner with anybody in the world these days.”

GALLERY: 2013 Scion FR-S

[Source: The Truth About Cars]

With the Scion FR-S destined to arrive on North American soil rather soon, it’ no surprise that the sub-brand for Japanese automaker, Toyota, decided to give its website a new identity. It appears that Scion hopes to give itself a more of a “grown up” image too with the FR-S’s arrival, which will undoubtedly be the first real sports car for the young brand.

Up until now, Scion is most well-known for its quirky models that appeal to the young automotive enthusiast interesting in customizing their vehicle to match their personality. And while the tC was an attempt at making a sporty coupe, most would agree that it doesn’t have – or even come close to – the appeal that the FR-S brings. We already have no doubts that the FR-S as a car is a hit (read our review here), but it’ll be interesting to see if buyers can get over the “Scion hump” of knowing that it doesn’t boast a Toyota badge, but rather a badge that’s been heavily associated to a younger generation of car enthusiasts.

Either way, the new website is clearly an indication that Scion wants to trend away slowly from the reputation it has established over the years. Rather than a dark-themed and Flashy website, it now incorporates a friendly-on-the-eyes design with everything just a couple of clicks away. In other words, it’s function over form, much like the FR-S. It looks great, and it performs great.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock that’s inside a cave the last couple of months, you might have heard of the Toyota GT 86 which will be coming to America as the Scion FR-S. But in case you haven’t heard of the FR-S (you can read our review here), Scion went out and shot a commercial recently with drifter Ken Gushi behind the wheel.

ATTIK creative agency was called upon to direct the ad, with Simon Needham at the helm. ATTIK is also known for Scion’s wacky Zeus Release Series campaign that was well, wacky. Scion Vice President Jack Hollis also spent the day at the commercial shoot and even had time to speak to Ken Gushi to get his feedback on the new sports car.

The behind-the-scenes look that Scion has shared with us is pretty neat, seeing all the cameras and contraptions utilized to film the commercials. Three unique commercials were shot that day and will air nationally this spring when the FR-S goes on sale. We’re definitely interested to see what the results were and expect nothing but excitement with Gushi behind the wheel in the ads.

GALLERY: Scion FR-S Behind the Scenes Commercial Shoot

[Source: Scion Blog]

As popular as drifting has become in America, the sport’s home will forever be in Japan and a quick demo out at the 2012 Tokyo Auto Salon gave us a reminder why.

While we have plenty of fun listening to V8-powered Ford Mustangs and Chevy Camaros go at it sideways, this year’s TAS played host to a Toyota GT 86 doing tandem with an old school AE86, only to be outdone by a Lexus LFA Roadster.

And as cool as it was to see the new Toyota GT 86 going sideways alongside its classic predecessor, what’s even more interesting is the fact that the LFA Roadster isn’t even supposed to go on sale until 2014, so how did someone get their hands on one? Either it’s a pre-production model or someone decided to chop the roof on theirs themselves. But leave it to D1 to put on yet another demo to whet everyone’s appetite for drifting, despite how controversial the series is out in Japan.

Check out the video after the break with various cars putting on a drifting demo.

[Source: Jalopnik]

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Just a few weeks after the debut of the GT 86, Toyota tuners are getting a crack at the new sports car and showing what modified visions they can dream up at Japan’s largest aftermarket expo, the Tokyo Auto Salon.

One of the very first machines is built by Toyota’s in-house Modelista tuning division, focused on adding some flare to the compact sports car. Included in the Modelista kit is a new lip kit, side skits, a rear lip and chrome door moldings. Headlight “eye” lids simplify the car’s front end, while rear light covers help blend the protruding taillights into the rest of the car’s body.

Also included are some upgraded 18-inch wheels and grippier tires – two simple modifications the new car could certainly use.

GALLERY: Modelista Toyota GT 86

See AutoGuide’s complete Tokyo Auto Salon Coverage Here and discuss this story at FR-SForum.com

Scion Racing has made its 2013 FR-S Drift Car official at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Less than a week ago, we spotted photos of the same car testing, and our assumptions proved correct: This is the Formula Drift race car for Ken Gushi and the 2012 drift season.

Built in collaboration with GReddy, the FR-S drift car will feature 600-hp and over 500 lb-ft of torque and is presumed to be turbocharged. That’s all the details Scion fed us with on the new drift car, but we’re sure we’ll be hearing more as the Formula Drift season opener on April 6-7th, approaches. But judging by its decals, it appears that the FR-S will operate with KW suspension and Gushi will be drifting on Hankook tires for the 2012 season. GReddy’s brake calipers peek behind the Rays wheels and there’s no doubt Cosworth had their hands in building the powerplant.

We can’t wait to see this thing go sideways.

GALLERY: Scion Racing FR-S Drift Car Official Photos

GALLERY: Scion Racing FR-S Drift Car Detroit Auto Show Debut

See AutoGuide’s complete 2012 Detroit Auto Show Coverage Here

Discuss this story at FR-Sforum.com

Toyota‘s upcoming GT 86 hasn’t even gotten in the hands of the consumers yet, and already some interesting tuning options are being dreamed up. We’ll be receiving Scion‘s FR-S as America’s offering from Toyota, and already impressed with how it performs stock (read our review here), we can’t even imagine what the aftermarket will be able to do with it.

But for now, we have to satisfy our hunger by seeing what talented artists like Jon Sibal can come up with. And what an awesome render/concept he did – combining the style of RWB’s Porsches, onto the new style Toyota GT 86. You see, before RWB wrenched away on Porsches making some of the widest, baddest creations on this planet, they tinkered on Toyota’s AE 86 with a similar style but under the Rough World name. And while now they focus on Porsches, wouldn’t it be interesting if they jumped back into the Toyota game with the advent of the GT 86?

Sibal surely hopes so, as his rendering reveals a GT 86 with some Rough World flavor to it. We can’t wait to see what race teams end up doing to Toyota’s new sports car and the tuners in America do to Scion’s FR-S.

[Source: Jon Sibal]

Click here to read AutoGuide’s 2013 Scion FR-S Review

Scion has announced it will show its new FR-S sports car to the public at the Detroit Auto Show next week. The new flagship vehicle for the youth-oriented brand, the FR-S is essentially a rebadged version of the Toyota GT 86 (or just Toyota 86), which will go on sale in other markets later this year.

Powered by a 200-hp 2.0-liter boxer 4-cylinder engine with direct injection it can be had with either a 6-speed manual or six-speed automatic.

Weighing just 2,700 lbs, it boasts a 53/47 weight distribution and a center of gravity that is among the lowest of any production car.

GALLERY: 2013 Scion FR-S Reveal

GALLERY: 2013 Scion FR-S

Click here to read AutoGuide’s Scion FR-S Review, or watch our video review below:

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We’ve been thoroughly excited about the upcoming release of the Scion FR-S – read our review here – but with any other sports car we hope that it’ll get a version with more power. A turbocharged Scion FR-S was recently spied testing out at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, but we shouldn’t get too excited yet.

We have reason to believe that the turbocharged Scion FR-S seen drifting is actually the drift car being built by GReddy for Scion drifter Ken Gushi. Gushi has been campaigning a rear-wheel-drive converted tC for the past few years in Formula Drift and it’s publicly known that he’ll be climbing into the cockpit of an FR-S for the upcoming season.

Previously, Gushi had teamed up with RS*R for the development of his race cars, but with RS*R taking a back seat this year, GReddy was called upon to execute a custom turbocharged powerplant and to get Scion’s new sports car ready to roll sideways.

We still have no doubts that Toyota will come out with a more powerful version of their new sports coupe, but we still believe it’ll come in the ways of a supercharger from TRD, rather than a turbocharged setup. For now, we can enjoy the sound of a turbocharged FR-S going sideways.

Check out the video after the break.

[Source: Motor Trend]

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10. Fiat Returns to America

As another calendar year draws to a close it’s time to take a look back at the top 10 biggest stories of the year in the auto industry. It’s been a busy 12 months, starting all the way back in March when the Fiat 500 officially went on sale, marking the return of the brand to America. The last time an Italian car was sold here that didn’t cost six figures (or close to it) was 27 years ago. Since then, Fiat has introduced the 500C convertible model and most recently the Fiat 500 Abarth, aimed at enthusiasts.

The jury is still out on the Fiat brand’s success in North America, although the first year has failed to live up to expectations, with Fiat predicting sales of 50,000 units, while according to automotive data firm GoodCarBadCar only 17,444 have been sold in the first 11 months of the year (add 5,000 more if you include Canada). Some of this may be the result of Fiat’s marketing initiative with several ads featuring Jenifer Lopez, which the Fiat faithful rejected and many believe cost the brand boss Laura Souve her job. Getting the Fiat dealer network up and running also proved a challenge.

With more models coming, and Alfa Romeo set to return in 2013, Fiat is here to say. More importantly, perhaps, is the Fiat connection to Chrysler – a company it saved from bankruptcy and which it is now slowly rebuilding back into a profitable automaker.

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Easily the highlight of this month’s video car reviews is our test drive of the Scion FR-S, the U.S.-spec version of the highly anticipated Toyota GT 86. In addition, we reviewed the V8-powered Dodge Charger R/T, as well as the Mercedes SLK350.

Read the AutoGuide new car reviews here and see all our video reviews at our YouTube channel here.

And watch the rest of this month’s video reviews below:

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Back when we still called it the FT-86, a leaked brochure claimed to show what TRD had in store for the Toyota sports car. The boxer-powered machine has since been revealed (called the Scion FR-S in North America) and this lone photo of a TRD-equipped model has now emerged.

What is obvious from the photo is a set of upgraded brakes, a lowered suspension, plus some aerodynamic upgrades – including a rear spoiler that the stock car seems to desperately need. According to one report, Toyota is also prepping a TRD supercharger for the 2.0-liter engine.

The TRD-tuned Toyota 86/Toyota GT 86/Scion FR-S is expected to be revealed at the Tokyo Auto Salon in January.

GALLERY: Toyota 86 TRD

[Source: 7Tune]

Discuss this story at FR-SForum and read AutoGuide’s Scion FR-S review here