Toyota Confirms Electric Sports Car Coming ‘By 2026,’ and It Might Be a Supra EV
“Is that a Supra?” is about to take on a more skeptical tone.
Toyota confirmed plans to produce an electric sports car within the next three calendar years during a presentation for investors this week. It didn't foreshadow what form the performance EV could take, but there's a strong chance it mirrors one of Toyota's eye-popping EV concepts.
The sports car was announced during Toyota's Financial Year 2023 briefing, confirming plans for 10 new U.S.- and China-aimed EVs by 2026. They'll span a variety of segments, from compacts to commercial vehicles and luxury cars, while also addressing the enthusiast market. The vehicle's vague silhouette gives away no clues as to what form it'll take, but Toyota's previous EV concepts give us a solid idea of what to expect.
In late 2021, Toyota revealed the Lexus Electrified Sport concept, which it billed as an electric LFA successor and suggested was meant for production. The design study featured traditional cab-aft proportions and was touted as capable of zero to 60 mph in the low two-second range and traveling 435 miles on a single charge. However, Toyota's apparent intent to use solid-state batteries—not yet a commercially viable technology—could delay its launch well past 2026.
Instead, Toyota's imminent electric sports car could carry forward a classic nameplate, potentially the Celica. In 2021, the name was rumored to be in consideration for an electrified performance car that was said to be in an early stage of development. Since then, Toyota switched to a new CEO who has expressed a personal interest in bringing back the Celica. However, the same outlet that broke the Celica news more recently posited another, apparently more likely possibility: a Supra EV.
In January, Best Car reported Toyota is preparing an electric replacement for the GR Supra in 2025. Its preliminary design is reportedly not a two-plus-two but a two-seater with mid-engined proportions. That calls to mind the mid-engined Toyota concept revealed in December 2021, which was initially speculated to foreshadow a new MR2. (That's now believed to be a tiny 1.0-liter model.) Curiously, Best Car also references the LFA successor above and says it's supposed to debut as a hybrid with an electric version launching a few years later.
The notion that the Supra would become a two-seater is tough to swallow, though the Supra would be a better candidate for a halo car than the comparatively humble Celica—even though it spawned the Supra in the first place. Whatever it'll be called, and whatever shape it'll take, we at least know for sure that it's happening—and that more info can't be too far out.
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