Toyota: the New Supra Will Not Be a Cheap Car
Another day, another small bit of intel on the new Toyota Supra.
This time, the scoop is in relation to the how much the new Supra will cost. Speaking to the Netherlands’ Autorai, Toyota’s vice president of R&D, Gerald Killmann, said the new car will not be cheap. He explained that Toyota wants there to be a very clear contrast between the entry-level 86, which starts at just over $26k in the US, and its new halo car, the Supra.
(We’ve translated Killmann’s quotes here from Dutch to English, so his statements may not be exact, but they should be close enough to accurately reflect the points he was trying to make.)
“It will not be a cheap car,”Killmann said. “There will be a clear difference between the GT86 and Supra. The GT86 remains the affordable sports car, the Supra becomes the performance model. Whether the production will be limited, we are not going now.”
SEE ALSO: New Toyota Supra Will be Dual Clutch Only and Will Race at Le Mans
Killmann said the BMW Z4 and Toyota Supra will share engines and a platform but will receive unique interior and exterior designs, along with different chassis tuning. He also said the Supra will not be a hybrid and revealed the majority of the development work on the car was completed in Japan – not Germany, as the BMW relation may indicate.
“The platform is the same (as the Z4),” he said. “The same applies to the powertrain. The styling is of course completely different and also the adjustment of the chassis will be very different. The powertrain is not a hybrid, but a petrol engine.”
“This car was mainly developed in Japan,” he added. “The European R & D center is not much involved.”
Rumors indicate the new Supra will come with a turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six engine sourced from BMW, which will be paired with a dual-clutch automatic transmission. BMW is said to be targeting a sub-3,200 lb kerb weight for the Z4, and we’re expecting the Supra to weigh roughly the same. Toyota has also confirmed to us the car will have 50:50 weight distribution.
We’re expecting the new Toyota Supra to rear its head sometime this year. We are almost there, Toyota fans.
[Source: Autorai]
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Sam McEachern holds a diploma in journalism from St. Clair College in Windsor, Ontario, and has been covering the automotive industry for over 5 years. He conducts reviews and writes AutoGuide's news content. He's a die-hard motorsports fan with a passion for performance cars of all sorts.
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i have a weird gut feeling that the new supra will be a big disappointment. Lets hope the body doesnt look like that for starters. "Rumors of a I-6 turbocharged"... how sad... that's 1 less turbo than was used 20 years ago... nothing inventive here even after all those years. Just a deduction from twin turbo to single turbo it sounds like. What is worse... another car (z4) will share the same platform, so not really unique to the road. Im not looking forward. I would advise toyota to save their $ and just make a 86 twin turbo.