Toyota’s Next Big Sports Car May Fix the Main Issue Fans Had With the Previous Supra

The Big T could be developing and engineering its next big sports car entirely in-house.

Rear view of a matte black Toyota Supra featuring a prominent carbon fiber rear spoiler, illuminated red taillights, and the Supra badge on the trunk. The background is dark with a red gradient.

Published 5 hours ago

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It seems Toyota is ready to take the reigns and develop its next big sports car entirely in-house. Speaking with Toyota Australia’s chief of marketing and sales, Sean Hanley down yonder at Drive learned that the company’s next big sports car could be developed without any outside help.

This would be a major change to Toyota’s current sports car offerings. The affordable and fun GR86 is a byproduct of a collaboration with Subaru. The Supra happened with help from BMW.

But now that Toyota’s Gazoo Racing performance division had some time to evolve, they’re confident they can take on their next big sports car all by themselves.

Building their own sports cars is “exactly what GR is about”

A silver Toyota GR Corolla is driving on a winding road surrounded by dense green foliage. The car is captured from a low front angle, emphasizing its aggressive front grille and sleek headlights. The background is slightly blurred, suggesting motion. — The GR Corolla is the first production Toyota GR car without any outside help.

Toyota’s Gazoo Racing program has been around since 1975. However, it was only within the last decade that the Japanese automaker began utilizing it as a marketing tool for its sports car revivals.

The fifth-generation Supra rebirth, despite being co-developed with BMW, is sold as the “GR Supra.” The “GR” essentially designates any sporty or high-performance Toyota, including the GR86 and even the GR Corolla.

Close-up of a black honeycomb car grille with a "GR" emblem in the center, featuring a black and red background, set against a yellow car body. — Gazoo Racing continues to grow as Toyota’s in-house performance division.

Now, Toyota wants to keep the ball rolling with its upcoming sports cars. So far, rumors are swirling about the revival of the Celica and MR2. Both are currently under development.

They would be the third and fourth vehicles engineered solely by Gazoo Racing. The current GR Corolla is the first standalone Toyota performance model made without any outside help.

The second is the latest GR Yaris, which is only available in Europe, Japan’s domestic market, and other parts of Asia.

Two sporty Toyota GR cars on a racetrack, with a red model in the foreground and a white model behind it, both featuring sleek designs and black wheels under a partly cloudy sky. — The GR86 is one of the first new sports cars from Toyota after it discontinued some of its most iconic models in the 2000s.

When asked the magic question about Toyota being able to make its own sports cars without outside help, Hanley replied:

“The answer is yes; we can do this [build sports cars] on our own. Why? This is what GR is about, this is exactly what GR is about.”

He admitted that the joint ventures with Subaru and BMW allowed Toyota’s GR team to learn from them.

Close-up of a Toyota car engine with a sleek black cover featuring three red accent lines and the Toyota emblem in the center, surrounded by metallic support bars and various engine components. — The GR Supra’s BMW-sourced B58 3.0-liter inline-six is a common point of contention.

“But having said that, we learned a lot, and will learn a lot, through our partnerships,” Hanley continued.

“And BMW they build some seriously good cars, so we don’t take a step back from that relationship at all – it was a good collaboration where we learned an incredible amount about performance cars,” Hanley went on. “And hopefully they probably learned a bit from us as well.”

Toyota envisions a standalone GR sports car

Blue Toyota Supra sports car driving on a racetrack with mountains in the background under a clear sky. — The next GR sports car may or may not be a next-gen Supra.

Hanley went on to say that him and his colleagues definitely see a Toyota GR-only sports car in the near future. But he didn’t go into further detail.

“But to answer your question, ‘can I ever see a day where we do our own independent, standalone Toyota Gazoo Racing sports performance car?’ Yes, yes, and yes You’ll have to wait and see,” he said.

Rear view of a gray Toyota GR Yaris with a prominent black rear spoiler, dual exhaust pipes, and distinctive red tail lights, driving on a curved road with trees and guardrails in the background. — The GR Yaris is a small hot hatch we wish we got in America.

Speculation suggests that this potentially next big sports car could be the next-gen Supra. However, Hanley didn’t confirm such speculation.

It only exists based on the circumstantial fact that the current “MKV” Supra will be discontinued after this year. Toyota also announced that it won’t be continuing its sports car collaboration with BMW.

Close-up of a silver car's side panel featuring a black and red "GR" badge. The badge is positioned near a black vent or trim piece on the car's fender. The background is dark, highlighting the metallic texture of the car's paint. — Needless to say, some exciting things are in Toyota GR’s pipeline.

The separation between Toyota and BMW is only a result of the expiration of the joint-venture agreement for co-developing the Supra and Z4.

However, a new rumor suggests Toyota and Mazda could also be teaming up for some sports car efforts. Should the latter be true, it would be an example that cooperative joint-ventures aren’t entirely off of GR’s table either.

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