A manual is still off the table, though.
If you’re in the market for a 2020 Toyota Supra, you only have one option in the U.S. While there are four-cylinder versions in Japan, here we get a 3.0-liter turbocharged straight-six with 335 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque, at least according to Toyota. Once owners, tuners and journalists got their hands on the new Supra, we’ve since discovered that power figure is actually a bit conservative. Nevertheless, there are even more encouraging signs from the car’s chief engineer.
More powerful Supra versions are coming.
At least, that’s what Tetsuya Tada hinted to Autoblog in an interview they published Friday. Tada-san said in that interview that, “with a sports car, the promise is to offer more performance with each additional version.” He doesn’t mention actual power figures, of course. It may be conventional wisdom, but it’s still encouraging to know he thinks in that direction. On that basis, we’ll almost certainly see faster versions of the Supra out of Toyota in the coming years.
Now, here’s the bad news. If you want a Toyota Supra with a manual, you’re fresh out of luck. “Customers who want a manual should choose the Toyota 86,” Tada-san said. Although disappointing for some, that reinforces what we knew earlier. Toyota had no intention to slot a six-speed manual transmission to the back of that straight-six engine. After all, it is related to the BMW Z4, although Toyota took its own direction in developing the powertrain for the Supra.
I get why Tada-san is playing coy with the future plans. Toyota’s approach hasn’t quite been what enthusiasts were expecting, but this confirms something we pretty much already knew was true.
What would you most like to see Toyota do with the Supra? Let us know what you think in the comments below. Tuners will surely go berserk with the Supra as well, and that’s exactly what Toyota wants:
