We've been hearing things about the promise of a new Supra for a while now. They've sounded promising, but things could always change, and projects can get cancelled. Toyota has a new incoming chairman, Takeshi Uchiyamada (known in the company as "Father of the Prius"), and there was worry that he might kill or in some other way neuter it. But a sports car partnership with BMW was announced earlier this year, and now Uchiyamada has said he is on board.

In fact, the incoming chairman announced at a lobbying group meeting that a Supra successor was exactly the thing that Toyota needed, adding that anything too down market would overlap with the 86, a move he called "futile". Uchiyamada, who will take the reins within the week, was careful to stress that it is ultimately the engineers who build the cars, and not him. Still, his support is an important and encouraging thing.