The Reborn Toyota Supra Is Finally Happening

The rumours have been flying for months, the test mules have been spotted at the Nurburgring and during cold weather testing, but now, finally, Toyota has announced that the Supra is back.

All we have to go on is a single teaser image and one official sentence. The car that reaches Geneva is going to be a racing concept, which explains the big wing visible in the solitary shot, but we can see more than that.

Look below the wing and you can clearly see a duck-tail integrated spoiler. Look beyond it and you’ll see the ‘double bubble’ curved roof, both of which clearly hark back to the FT-1 concept of 2014.

That makes us believe that the renders we commissioned over a year ago might be very close to the mark when it comes to styling.

On the other hand, at no point has Toyota used the Supra name. Not even in this new release. We’ve used it because it’s the easiest way to refer to the legendary A80’s spiritual successor. There have been rumours that it will use the iconic name, and rumours that it won’t, but Toyota’s newest words refer to “its most iconic sports car.” What other name could it possibly use and still claim the heritage? We’re sure it’s going to be called Supra.

The Supra began life with the A40 generation in 1978, which, like the later A60, was derived from the Celica. The A70 generation that was launched in 1986 used a separate platform, and interest began to rise.

By the end of the A70 in 1993, tuners in Japan had begun to realise the potential in the twin-turbo version’s unburstable 1JZ, and when that was replaced with the famous 2JZ in the A80, the Supra reached its peak.

It was discontinued in North America in 1998 following a decline in sales, just three years before the car would become an instant US hero to a whole new generation thanks to The Fast and the Furious. Overnight parts from Japan, anyone? Sales finally stopped in the car’s home country in 2002 as the emissions regulations noose tightened around its neck.

But now it’s back, and based on the same platform as the BMW Z4, which, not-so-coincidentally, is also making its debut in Geneva.

After all the manual/automatic rumours and endless speculation, we can’t wait to see the final production spec.