Toyota CEO Wants Two New RWD Sports Cars
Though the company recently released the GT86, Toyota is already getting ready to bring two new rear-wheel drive sports cars into its family, to slot above and below the GT86/FR-S.
“Akio Toyoda always says to me, Toyota sports car [family] should be three sports car brothers. 86 is in the middle,” Tatsuya Tada, the FR-S’s chief engineer told CarAdvice.au. Tada went on to say that Toyota’s CEO Akio Toyoda is in favor of developing two new sports cars, the larger of which Tada has been given responsibility over, while the smaller car has been assigned to a different engineer. Despite Toyoda’s feelings however, neither of the cars has received an official green light yet.
The larger of the two cars is rumored to be a Supra successor, and is currently in development in conjunction with BMW. Tada hinted that the small car is also likely to be a joint effort, though he did not specify which company would be a part of it. The name of the smaller sports car is also unknown, though MR2 and Celica are both viable candidates if Toyota wants to attach a heritage filled name to the car.
Further affirming that these new sports cars have a good chance of making it to production, Tada said, “[the rear wheel drive smaller sports car] sounds like it’s very difficult to do [on a] new platform. However, Toyota has learnt a lot from 86 project and Toyota has much experience in terms of technology and development in the way we develop vehicles efficiently and cost effectively. We have all these experiences and skills.”
[Source: Car Advice]
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Stephen covers all of the day-to-day events of the industry as the News Editor at AutoGuide, along with being the AG truck expert. His truck knowledge comes from working long days on the woodlot with pickups and driving straight trucks professionally. When not at his desk, Steve can be found playing his bass or riding his snowmobile or Sea-Doo. Find Stephen on <A title="@Selmer07 on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/selmer07">Twitter</A> and <A title="Stephen on Google+" href="http://plus.google.com/117833131531784822251?rel=author">Google+</A>
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If they bring back the MR2 its done....They would probably make it a scion which would just do nothing but help the brand even more. Bringin back the heritage.