New Toyota 86's Front End Revealed In Patent Pics

It already feels like a while since Subaru revealed its all-new 2022 BRZ, and yet there’s still a long wait until we see its Toyota playmate. As with the last BRZ, Subaru and Toyota’s joint venture will also yield a near-identical car from the former manufacturer, but we won’t see it until much later in 2021.

If you’re feeling impatient, though, just have a look at the bumper design above, and imagine it on the 2022 BRZ seen below. These are some patent images filed with IP Australia and spotted by Car Advice, which almost certainly show the front end of the new GT86.

If the outgoing car is anything to go by, this will be the new car’s only styling deviation from the Subaru. Also mirroring the first-gen BRZ/GT86 styling differences, both cars have trapezoidal grilles, but the Toyota’s is the other way up. The ‘GR86’, as it’s expected to be called, also has a different treatment for the ducts that flank the grille.

It was previously reported that the new GR86 would adopt a turbocharged engine producing around 260bhp, but that’s now seemingly less likely following the BRZ’s reveal. Toyota’s version will almost certainly share the BRZ’s powerplant, which we now know to be a 2.4-litre naturally-aspirated flat-four.

Power goes up from 197 to 225bhp relative to the old car, while torque has risen from 156 to 184lb ft. Modest improvements, but crucially, peak torque arrives 2700rpm earlier, making for a more pleasant car to bimble around in which doesn’t have the old car’s infamous ‘torque hole’ when you fancy giving it some.

The Toyota sports car will be the only one you can buy in Europe, with the BRZ not making it to the content as far as we know.