The last time Toyota teamed up on production duties with another automaker, we got the GT86 and the Subaru BRZ—cars that are very good, but also nearly identical in every way. We know that the new Toyota Supra will share a platform, transmission and engine with the new BMW Z4, but apparently their driving experiences will be quite different.

That’s according to Motoring Research, which spoke to Tetsuya Tada, chief engineer of the GT86 and the upcoming Supra, at Le Mans. He said:

Tada also told the outlet that the new Supra will “be a pure sports car,” look the part and that comfort and practicality were barely considered. And that the big wing on the back will be a permanent fixture.

The Z4 will be a roadster, which means that it will be meant for very different things than a Supra, which has historically been a performance-oriented sports car. This confirmation from Tada is a good thing—you wouldn’t want your Supra driving like a convertible, would you?

MR also asked Tada about an even more performance-oriented, GRMN-badged version of the Supra, but he only smiled and gave the typical non-answer, which was saying he’d like to see something like that and that the company is “preparing for it.”

A similar non-answer was given when he was asked about a potential return of the Celica and MR2:

This also follows news of Toyota planning some kind of road-going hypercar, something that would allegedly use the hybrid, turbo, 2.4-liter V6 and tech from a Le Mans prototype, good for 1,000 horsepower. Something like the Aston Martin Valkyrie or the Mercedes-AMG Project One.

Will we see it go up the hill?

While it was certainly a cool vehicle, we were all a bit let down when Toyota simply brought a race car concept version of the new Supra to the Geneva Motor Show, rather than the road car. But at least we won't have to wait much longer to get a good look at the production version, since the road-going Toyota Supra will be at this year's Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Toyota announced the car's appearance through its European branch's Twitter page, and to which Toyota Supra forum SupraMKV.com alerted us. The tweet contains very little information beyond saying the car will be there, along with a camouflage vinyl wrap covering a production car.

We certainly hope that the vinyl wrap will come off the car at Goodwood so we can finally see the new Toyota Supra uninhibited. We'll try not to get our hopes up too much, though, since there are plenty of prime auto shows for a full reveal coming in a few months. Since the Festival of Speed is an event about cars being driven, we would at least like to see the Supra make a run up the hillclimb course, even if it stays under wraps. We won't have long to see what Toyota decides, since the event is next week from July 12 to July 15.

Last we heard on Supra engine choices, Autocar reported there'd be one engine, an inline-six, in four states of tune. The Bimmerpost thread counters that, saying the Supra will get three engines — two four-cylinders and a six-cylinder, with the U.S. getting one four-pot and the six. That tidbit echoes a leaked BMW document from August 2017 saying the same thing. The Supra would top out at 335 hp, while the sister-car BMW Z4 would get a 380-hp inline-six in the M40i.

The new fifth-generation Toyota is the latest car to fall victim to the Nürburgring.

A Toyota engineer testing a prototype was caught out late on Wednesday at the Döttinger Höhe section of the Nürburgring Nordschleife. The section is a long straight where the highest speeds are achieved.

The test driver lost control for an unknown reason and ended up sliding into a guardrail. This caused significant damage to the driver's side of the car. Fortunately the driver was uninjured from the impact.

Toyota is currently in the final stages of fine-tuning the new Supra ahead of a debut early next year. The car's platform-mate, BMW's new Z4, makes its debut this week in Monterey, California.

Toyota has confirmed that the new Supra will stay true to its predecessors with an inline-6 engine and rear-wheel-drive layout. Look for a BMW-sourced 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-6 with around 335 horsepower at launch, while a hybrid variant is also likely with more power. A 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4, also borrowed from BMW, is also expected, bringing with it around 260 hp.

The car will have a body twice as rigid as the 86. In fact, it will be as rigid as the carbon fiber Lexus LFA. It will also have a perfect 50:50 weight balance and surprisingly small dimensions. We're told it boasts a shorter wheelbase than the 86, which is just 101.2 inches. It will also boast a lower center of gravity compared to the 86, thanks to a cleverly mounted steering rack and other factors.

Toyota's answer to the Nissan Z-car turns 40

Though Toyota has a fairly illustrious history producing numerous successful sports cars that have enjoyed their fair share of success on the streets and in motorsports, one name stands a little taller than the rest. Of course, the fanboys know what I’m talking about already – it’s none other than the Toyota Supra, arguably the biggest nuke in Toyota’s historical arsenal, and after 40 years of Supra, we’re on the verge of tasting the fifth generation of the legendary marque.

So ahead of the launch of the new one, and the revival of a hallowed nameplate we thought was dead and gone, we thought we’d take a trip down memory lane by looking at four decades of Supra, and how the model evolved in that time.

Mk I - A40 Celica Supra

Instead of using the correct ‘A’ model designations, Supra fanboys commonly referred to the generations as Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, and Mark IV. While the Supra nameplate is famous, it wasn’t until the third generation that the Supra was a standalone nameplate. Originally, the A40 was a spinoff of the Celica liftback; based almost entirely upon the Celica, but 8.1 inches longer overall, with 5.1 of those added to the wheelbase. The doors were straight from the Celica, but the front panels had to be elongated to accommodate an inline-6 instead of the Celica’s 4-cylinder engine – which also begs the question if the new 4-cylinder Supra really is a Supra. At the time, the Celica Supra’s goal was to rival the highly popular Nissan Z-car.

Production of the Celica XX (pronounced ‘Double X’) as it was sold in Japan began in 1978, with sales outside of Japan only starting in January the following year. Though the Celica Supra may have been derived from the Celica, it packed some pretty rich heritage beneath the sheet metal. The inline-6 cylinder engine was of the same Toyota M-family of engines as used in the famous 2000GT sports car, although multiple variations of the engine were available.

2.0-liter and 2.6-liter displacements were initially available, though the 2.0-liter was only available in Japan so that buyers could avoid additional taxes for higher displacement engines. This 123-horsepower motor was the most powerful of the initial engine options, outgunning the 110-hp 2.6-liter mill first used in export models. Drive was sent to the rear wheels through either a 5-speed manual or a 4-speed automatic gearbox, both of which featured overdrive gears.

Though the gear ratios were actually the same as those of the standard Celica, it was noted that they suited the inline-6 rather well, enabling good use of low-end torque to reach 60 mph from standstill in a little over 10 seconds, and accomplish the quarter mile in around 18 seconds, which were decent figures for the era – albeit slower than the Supra’s chief rival, the 280ZX.

Four-wheel disc brakes, four-link rear suspension with coil springs, and front MacPherson strut suspension all should have enabled the A40 generation Celica Supra to perform admirably as more than just a ‘super-Celica’ with more power. But despite the extra length between the axles and the hardware, the Celica Supra failed to impress at speed or when the roads got twisty, with many noting at the time that it didn’t inspire confidence, feel very stable, or even perform any better than a Celica would. Many attributed the lack of feel to Toyota’s attempts to imbue the Celica Supra with luxury appeal, which resulted in immense body roll and huge amounts of understeer.

In 1980, for the 1981 model year, Toyota attempted to improve the offering, with a Sports Performance Package boasting sports suspension and front and rear spoilers. Power also took a bump with an enlarged 2.8-liter engine now developing 116 hp and an additional 9 lb-ft of torque, the final torque figure now resting at 145.

Still, the Mk I Celica Supra failed to impress.

Mk II – A60 Celica Supra

For the second generation Celica Supra, Toyota once again based the model upon the Celica, which had been completely overhauled at the same time ahead of the global 1982 release. Though the platform was still the same, the extended wheelbase and bodywork remained due to the inline-6 engine – a hallmark of the Celica Supra – though for the A60 other design traits evolved too, such as the Supra’s fully retractable pop-up headlights and the front end design.

In Japan, smaller displacement Celica Supra’s still dominated, though some now boasted turbochargers to increase power outputs. However, in the rest of the world, a 2.8-liter 5M engine was the standard powerplant although available in various states of tune. In North America, the 5M-GE started out serving up 145 hp and 155 lb-ft, delivering it all to the rear wheels via the same choice of 5-speed manual or 4-speed automatic as before. The American versions were also wider than their Japanese counterparts to accommodate the 5M motor, giving them a butch stance that made them highly aesthetically appealing.

Despite the criticism of the first generations luxury appeal, the second generation still followed the same bias to an extent. American models could be had in L-type or P-type trims, the former for Luxury and the latter for Performance. They were differentiated by their available options, tire size, wheel size, and body trims. The Performance-type had fiberglass fender flares, sportier 8-way adjustable seats, 7-inch wide tires, and until 1983 no option for leather upholstery. Crucially, all P-types came standard with a limited-slip differential.

Unlike the A40, the A60 received wide praise as a highly capable sporty GT car in almost all facets. While steering feel was still considered a weak point by many, levels of grip were fairly high from the Potenza tires, and the chassis was regarded as highly stable and controllable – largely due to a Lotus-designed suspension setup. At the limit, grip broke away into mild understeer, but many praised the mild lift-off oversteer that characterized a highly balanced chassis that was often likened to Porsche 944s of the era. Though it wasn’t considered an outright sports car, the Celica Supra had evolved substantially into something highly competent.

Though the engine was hardly criticized in the early years – on the contrary, it actually received high praise for immense low-down torque, smooth delivery, and crisp performance – during the course of its lifespan, power would be steadily increased until it finally developed 161 hp and 169 lb-ft in its final 1986 iteration.

When the Mk II Celica Supra ended production in 1986, few were expecting how big of an evolution the Supra would make in its next iteration. The Supra nameplate was on the verge of a quantum shift that would see the nameplate evolve into a cult classic, one that would perhaps define Japanese innovation in the automotive sector as few before had. But more on that in Part 2 of our 40 Years of Supra special – The Supra Goes Standalone.