Toyota’s New Supra May Not Be Called a Supra at All

While Toyota says the Supra name is ‘a leading candidate,’ it ain’t a sure thing.

byChris Tsui|
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Said to be sold under the Gazoo Racing subbrand, Toyota's upcoming sports car jointly developed with BMW has widely been labeled by the automotive community as the Supra's second coming (or fifth coming, more accurately). Despite this, Toyota is now saying that while a Supra moniker for its new coupe is a strong possibility, it ain't a sure thing, mirroring a similar situation concerning its Bavarian platform-mate, the not-Z5, from back in May. 

In an interview with AutoGuide at the Los Angeles Auto Show, Toyota Group Vice President and General Manager Jack Hollis said, "Yes, we have other ideas, and yes, the Supra name is in consideration. I think that there is some discussion because the heritage of Supra is so strong." Hollis went on to say, "The name decision will not be made until next year as well. There are some other candidates for some other reasons that are really pretty strong." 

The report didn't specify any of the other names that are also under consideration, but Toyota, please don't saddle this thing with some unmemorable, alphanumeric nonsense. Remember what happened with the FR-S? Save the badge swappers some time and elbow grease and name your cars what they should've been named from the getgo, instead of confusingly backtracking four years into production. Thankfully, Hollis added that the Supra name "is definitely a… leading candidate."

Regarding when on earth we'll finally get our eyes and hands on the maybe-Supra, AutoGuide reports that while we can expect a lot more info on the new Toyota next year, its release date is still pretty much up in the air with Hollis saying that Toyota doesn’t "even have necessarily a two-to-three-month window."

While concrete powertrain details are equally scarce, previous rumors have pegged the upcoming, rear-drive 'Yota's engine as a 400-plus horsepower, 3.5-liter turbo V6 hooked up to an available manual transmission.

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