We Won’t See the Production Toyota Supra for Another Full Year

This week, after years of anticipation, Toyota finally revealed the new Supra. Except instead of showing off the Supra you’ll be able to buy, it showed off a racing version that you’ll be able to download in a video game. The GR Supra Racing concept wasn’t exactly what we were hoping for, but with the New York auto show a few weeks away, we were confident we’d see the road-going Supra by the end of the month. Sadly, we were wrong.

We weren’t even just a little wrong. We were a lot wrong. Toyota of Great Britain confirmed on Twitter today that we won’t get to see the version of the Supra we can actually buy for another full year. This is especially surprising since we heard the Supra’s development-mate, the BMW Z4, will debut in production form this summer.

We think hearing that the road Supra will be revealed in the first half of next year might be of interest! ????

— ToyotaGB (@ToyotaGB) March 6, 2018

Talk about a disappointment. It’s been more than four years since Toyota first showed the FT-1 concept, and by the time the production Supra shows up, it will have been five. If there’s a silver lining, though, it’s that once the new Supra is officially revealed, we won’t have to wait long to drive it. A few hours later, Toyota’s U.K. arm confirmed that it will still go on sale in 2019. Hopefully, that goes for the U.S. as well.

There are no details on the drivetrain or transmission at this time. The production model will be available in 2019, more details will be available closer to this time. Thanks. ^PM

— ToyotaGB (@ToyotaGB) March 7, 2018

In a conversation with Tetsuya Tada, the new Supra’s chief engineer, we also learned that the racing version will do more than compete online. Toyota plans to enter the Gazoo Racing Supra in a number of different series, including Super GT. The Supra won’t compete as a lower-level GT300 car, either. It’s going to be a full-on GT500 competitor, likely making more than 600 hp.

Theoretically, successfully racing the new Supra could generate more interest and anticipation for the road car. On the other hand, waiting until 2019 to reveal the actual car could easily have the opposite effect. As much as we love the idea of taking the new Supra racing first, it feels like the prolonged wait for the production car is a waste of the momentum that’s been built up thus far. We’re still excited, but a year is a long time to wait. And boy, do we have a short attention span.

Source: Toyota via Twitter

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