Here’s How the Beloved Toyota Supra Got its Humble Start
Take a trip down memory lane with the legendary nameplate.
The MK IV Toyota Supra is one of two Japanese cars that almost all car enthusiasts put on a pedestal, the other being the Nissan Skyline R34. The Fast and Furious series can be partly credited with sparking the enthusiast craze for the Supra, but what you may not know is where the model gets its early beginnings from.
Donut Media recently covered the Toyota Supra in their "Everything You Need to Know | Up to Speed" YouTube series. In the video, they showcase why Toyota got into the sports car game to begin with. Toyota saw the success of the Ford Mustang and in 1970 decided they wanted to get in on it too, so they created the Toyota Celica, but it wasn't until 1978 the Supra name arrived (with Lotus of all companies as a midwife) as the North American version of the global higher-performance Celica XX trim. The "Celica Supra" name would endure until the models diverged entirely in 1986.
Toyota Supras are now known for their turbo engines, but it was not until the MK III did the Supra receive a turbo in 1987. Speaking of "marks" of Supra generations, Toyota never used the term "mark" to differentiate Supra models. It was a term that originated with American journalists.
The video goes through all the different generations, from MK 1 (A40) to the MK IV (A80) Supra. When they get to the coveted MK IV Supra, they touch on how it had the best stopping distance of any car between 1997 - 2004. Which is crazy, because the MK IV Supra stopped production in 2002.
It's not dead anymore, though. A new roadster currently being co-developed with BMW is speculated to be the next Toyota Supra.