Have we told you how badly we want a reboot of the Toyota Supra? One of the iconic cars of Gen X youth, the Supra died an untimely death in the mid-1990s along with the rest of the Japanese sports car market. This was, of course, long before most of us had managed to graduate from college and get decent enough jobs to be able to afford anything more exciting than a used Honda Civic.
So yes, we hang on every word out of Japan, and the latest comes via Motor Trend. It's reporting that a hybrid, 400-horsepower, 3.5-liter V6 powertrain is being tested for possible release in 2015. The new Supra would look a lot like the FT-HS concept that Toyota showed at the 2007 Detroit Auto Show, according to the magazine, which also says that if we really want to see this Supra successor, we'd better hope the Toyota
According to our man in Japan Peter Lyon, Toyota R&D is working on a Supra successor that is being tested with a 3.5-liter V-6 hybrid system generating over 400 hp. Rumored to be wearing a design close to the FT-HS concept’s body (pictured below) revealed at the 2007 Detroit show, the rear-drive coupe is expected to target the Nissan GT-R in terms of performance and price.
But our insider tells us that Toyota bean counters “are not too pushing to get this car out quickly,” and are waiting to see how the GT86 goes. If it gets the go-ahead, we won’t see it until 2015.In contrast, Toyota engineers ARE putting more effort into readying a test mule of the MR-S based 4WD GRMN coupe boasting the same Lexus GS sourced 3.5-liter hybrid system. If this project gets the green light, we can expect to see it in showrooms by late 2014.
However, there seems to be one issue for Toyota product planners. They are in the final developmental stages of a Lexus IS coupe that will be powered by the same powertrain, a fact that creates a differentiation problem for Toyota.