Toyota boss Akio Toyoda has given his approval to the development of a new Supra – but concedes there may be resistance within the company to the car.
Toyoda told journalists in Japan that he “wants to see the next Supra tested in the near future” but added that “even if one president says that we want to have a Supra again, the whole company is not going to be responding to that request”.
See pics of the Toyota FT-HS concept
Autocar understands that the Supra replacement is on track for a launch in 2013/14 and its development is running in parallel to the delayed FT-86, the sports car Toyota is co-developing with Subaru.
The next Supra was previewed by FT-HS concept at the 2007 Detroit motor show and it’s likely to use a V6 hybrid powertrain for production.
Toyota to launch new Supra, MR2
Toyoda’s desire to build a new Supra stems from the time he spent at the Nurburgring driving the previous generation Supra. He said he “would like to create a car that is better than the Supra” and he was “not against the idea” of pushing through development of the car.
Toyota is also planning to launch a new MR-2 within the next four years, which will use a hybrid powertrain based on a 1.5-litre petrol engine.
