GR Supra

Make
Toyota
Segment
Coupe

People can point at the new C8 Corvette Stingray's price all they like, but it's not going to leave the Supra dead in the water. It's a completely different sports car, with a completely different philosophy behind it. That doesn't mean the Supra will be the softer option though. Far from it.

In an interview with Australia's Motoring, Toyota's chief engineer for the Supra, Tetsuya Tada, not only showed his own enthusiasts credibility but also squelched a few rumors. For a start, and contrary to Toyota's announced plans of electrification for every model, Tada is adamant he'll have no part in a hybrid Supra. "The Toyota marketing people are asking me to develop a hybrid Supra and I say no," he told Motoring via a translator.

According to Toyota, the automaker's electrification plan is to have one battery drive or a battery-assisted version of each car model by 2025. The idea of Toyota only planning to run the Supra in production for only four years seems highly unlikely though, but Tada wants no part of hybridization of the Supra.

"When you think about the battery space, the performance will be worse … I don't like it personally. The weight is the issue," he says of adding a battery and electric motor. Then, to seal his credibility as an old school enthusiast, he adds: "Personally I love the nostalgic gasoline engine; the smell and the sound like a sports car."

Tada acknowledges that could change with technology improvements in weight, but that would be for someone else to work on. "For the new generation engineers, maybe they can do it. I am a very old engineer," he says.

Tada also acknowledged two other options had been weighed up. We already know a manual transmission is unlikely unless the market truly demands it, but he also pointed out he didn't believe the market would sustain a convertible option. What Tada did confirm though is that the A90 Supra will get more powerful over time, and he didn't rule out a hardcore GRMN Supra later as well.