Toyota to Show Supra Concept in October (Plus Two More Sports Concepts)
Japan's signature auto show, the Tokyo auto show, was a must-see extravaganza of the country's future sports-car ideas and eccentric concept cars throughout the 1990s. Then, as the Shanghai and Beijing auto shows grew in prominence and Korean cars started eating into Japan's global market share, the Tokyo event lost its luster, dropping to second-tier status on the international calendar of car shows. And there it has stayed for the past decade. (It doesn't help that the show is held only every other year.) But that won't be the case in 2017, in large part because of one debut: the Toyota Supra concept.
The Supra concept leads a show-car trio from Toyota that also will include, according to the Japanese magazine Best Car, Toyota's S-FR and Corolla GTI concepts. We first saw the next-generation Supra's design direction when the company unveiled its FT-1 concept in January 2014, and the final product will take strong styling hints from that car, as the rendering published here shows. The final design is a collaboration between Toyota's headquarters in Toyota City and the company's Calty studio, located in California.
Co-developed with BMW and using the same rear-wheel-drive platform as the upcoming Z5, we can expect to see the Supra powered by Toyota's own 255-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four and a flagship 340-hp turbo 3.0-liter V-6 married to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. A 2.5-liter hybrid is expected to join the lineup a year after the launch in late 2018. Although still a concept, the Tokyo car is described as very close to production.
The BMW Z5, on the other hand, will employ the German company's turbocharged inline-four and straight-six powerplants and incorporate special lightweight carbon-fiber technology borrowed from the i3 and i8. It's slated for a Frankfurt auto show debut in September.
In an attempt to show that Toyota means business with its effort to create a stronger sports-car range—one that encompasses small, medium and large sports cars—Japan's number-one automaker also will unveil a purist coupe called the S-FR II concept, an evolution of the concept seen at the 2015 Tokyo auto show. With its huge grille, funky proportions, and short overhangs, the tiny rear-wheel-drive coupe will slot in at the bottom of Toyota's sports-car lineup. It's powered by a 116-hp turbocharged 1.2-liter four-cylinder engine or a 130-hp naturally aspirated 1.5-liter inline-four, with both versions expected to be offered with either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic transmission. Toyota's "Mr. 86," Tetsuya Tada, father of the Scion FR-S (now the Toyota 86), has been tasked with bringing the S-FR to global markets at a starting price under $15,000—and , yes, that potentially could include the United States.
Rounding out Toyota's sporty concepts will be a GTI version of the Corolla. Based on the new 12th-generation car due out later this year, which will use Toyota's New Global Architecture (TNGA), the GTI is a four-door hatchback packing a 250-hp 2.0-liter turbo four and a specially tuned suspension in an effort to go up against the Volkswagen GTI.
Combine the high-profile splash of three sports-car debuts at the Tokyo show with a hoped-for win at Le Mans after last year's engine failure on the final lap, a welcome return to the World Rally Championships, and the all-new Lexus LC500–based GT3 challenging the top runners in Japan's Super GT series, and it looks like 2017 could reshape Toyota's image and inject some passion back into the brand.
