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| Toyota test driver and boss, Akio Toyoda, at the launch of the new Supra sports car in Detroit. |
- TOYOTA’s master test driver and — as it happens — boss, Akio Toyoda, on Monday revealed the new Supra at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), better known as the Detroit car show.
Toyoda described the Supra as “one of my closest friends” and also the worst kept secret in the industry.
I’m sure for each of you...there’s been at least one car in your life that you have a particular attachment to — one car that holds a special place in your heart — and for me the Supra is it,” he
said.
said.
He told the crowd assembled for the launch how he had spent countless hours in the Supra learning to become a master driver at Nürburgring, and off the teasing he had to endure in his old car while the other drivers were in the latest prototypes.
Thank you, Gran Turismo
He admitted he always wanted to make another Supra, even though Toyota did not. But after riding the Supra developed for the Gran Turismo video game, he was convinced.
“Just like a lot of other die hard Supra fans around the world...I secretly wanted to make it happen. So did a small group of our designers at Calty it turns out. A few years ago...they showed me a concept they called the FT-1...and as if I needed any more persuading...they managed to get their prototype put into the Gran Turismo video game.
By the way...I recommend this approach to any designer out there trying to get his boss to sign off on a concept car. Because for me it was Game Over. At that moment...I knew my old friend was coming home,” said Toyoda.
“Our Gazoo team actually began as a kind of skunkworks that we put together to test cars at Nürburgring beginning in 2007 because, as all manufacturers know, there is no more perfect or challenging place to test a car than the Green Hell.
“We didn’t start out as an official Toyota race team though, in fact the original Gazoo team wasn’t even acknowledged by Toyota. We were more like a bunch of friends who thought it would be cool to hang out with the big boys and eat braht-wurst.
“Anyway, little by little we learned and got better and soon we became a real team. In fact, Toyota’s Gazoo racing division won the World Rally Championship in 2018 and also Le Mans. So the new Supra was born out of this hands-on testing at Nürburgring and as a result I can honestly say that this new Supra is not just fun to drive, it’s totally LIT!
BMW collab
What Toyoda did not say is that Toyota worked with BMW to make the Supra, which shares a 50:50 balanced platform and engines with the new BMW Z4. In Europe and the U.S the Supra will be sold with BMW-derived a 6,3-liter, inline-6 with a twin-scroll turbocharger that makes maximum torque of 500 Nm from 1 600 rpm and peak power of 250 kW.
In Japan, a 2,0-liter, inline-4, also with a twin-scroll turbocharger, will be sold, tuned to make either 145 kW or 190 kW. But while the Germans went for sporty convertible, the Japanese went for a focused sports car.
The official line is there will be no manual transmission. Instead, a dual-clutch, eight-speed automatic sends power to the back wheels, where an active differential allows drivers to make the most of the adaptive variable suspension.
Pricing
The Supra will make its way to South Africa and dealers are taking orders, but Deon Oliver at Toyota McCarthy Pietermaritzburg told Wheels a price is yet to be announced.
Wheels expects pricing to stay in the overseas ballpark, where the six-cylinder sells for $56 000, or R767 200.
This will pit the new Supra against the timeless Nissan 370Z coupe auto, which sells for around R726 800, and the iconic but thirsty Ford Mustang 5.0 GT Fastback, which costs R872 000.
(First published in Witness Wheels.)
