Praise Be: Toyota Relaunching Mk3, Mk4 Supra Parts Production
Toyota joins a growing crowd of Japanese automakers who will continue to manufacture parts for their most-beloved historic models.
Toyota Gazoo Racing officials have reportedly announced that the company will soon restart production of parts for third- and fourth-generation Supras as part of a program called "GR Heritage Parts Project."
The announcement was made by Shigeki Tomoyama, head of Gazoo Racing and the owner of a fourth-gen "A80" Supra, at Toyota's May 17 launch event for the fifth-gen model at the Toyota Megaweb showroom in Odaiba, Japan. Tomoyama's statements are recorded in a primarily Japanese-language conference below, though Japanese Nostalgic Car translated the key announcement regarding Supra parts supply into English. Which parts will be supplied has not yet been confirmed, though the program is known to encompass both third- and fourth-gen cars, referred to by their fans as A70 and A80 respectively.
"We can not answer about specific parts at this time, but we will make every effort to meet the expectations of owners," Tomoyama stated according to translations.
Tomoyama also reportedly pledged at the event that Toyota Gazoo Racing would fight to keep cars fun over the next century, even as the electric car boom and worsening environmental conditions threaten the existence of the internal combustion-powered, human-driven car.
"All horses that were once a means of transportation have been replaced by cars, but racehorses remain. There are people all over the world who love horses," explained Tomoyama. "The human desire to move freely, fast, and beautifully according to one's will is universal…We have to pass on this DNA to the next generation. The challenge of Toyota Gazoo Racing is to make cars thoroughly interesting in the next 100 years."
Toyota thus joins other Japanese automakers who have pledged to maintain parts supply for their best-remembered models, which includes the likes of Nissan, Honda, and Mazda. Nissan announced in March that it'd reboot production of the Skyline GT-R's famous RB26DETT engine, while Honda has continued to supply parts for its NSX. Thanks to a relaunched Mazda parts supply program—which even allows Americans to attain the parts—early versions of the ever-popular Miata (or MX-5) will also continue to prowl the roads in the years to come.
