The highly anticipated return of the Toyota Supra could take place as early as 2018 now that development of the sports car has progressed to the point that Toyota and project partner BMW have moved on to developing their respective models independent of each other. For one, Toyota is already in the process of testing the Supra on the road, same as BMW with the convertible Z5, the German automaker’s sports car that will arise from the partnership with Toyota.
The return of the Supra marks an important time for Toyota as it tries to re-establish itself in the mainstream sports car scene. It’s been 14 years since the last Supra arrived and with the segment becoming as busy as it’s ever been in a long time, a flagship performance mode that would sit above the GT 86 and would carry one of the company’s most iconic nameplates is exactly what Toyota needs to compete in an increasingly competitive market.
Toyota has remained tight-lipped on the sports car’s power and performance capabilities, but it is already understood that the Supra would feature a hybrid all-wheel drive set-up that will be made up of a BMW gas-powered engine and electric motors whose energy is stored in supercapacitors.
Despite the expected similarities born from this collaboration, the Toyota Supra and the BMW Z5 will be two different models, largely because they’ll occupy different areas of the sports car market. The Supra, for instance, is likely to be slotted against the Honda NSX and will be packaged with a more purist thought to the development. On the other hand, the Z5 convertible is expected to take the reins from the BMW Z4 as the German automaker’s resident sports car, albeit one with a more balanced development of luxury and performance.
No decisions on the production side have been set for either car, but according to BMW board member Ian Robertson, there’s a possibility that both models could be built in the same production facility. The U.S. or Europe are the two most likely locations to have the facility, largely because of the importance of both markets for Toyota and BMW.
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