The first Supra model was produced in 1978, and 40 years later we’re finally seeing its return. As this is the fifth-generation Supra, Chief Engineer Tetsuya Tada gives us five things that he would like Supra fans to know about the car? Here is his answer.
“First of all, the Supra has always had an inline six-cylinder engine, and of course we have that with the new car, too. Secondly, all generations had a front-mounted engine and rear-wheel drive; that is also the same here.
“I think for number three I would like to point out its design. We’ve taken cues from the A80 [fourth-generation Supra] and, although the design is not the same, we carried elements over so that when people look at the new car they can tell immediately that it is a Supra.
“Number four is that if you look across the previous generations, each of them have been exciting in their own right and in their own era. We wanted to achieve the same thing with this new-generation car, and I believe that when it goes on sale next year it will be the most fun-to-drive car in its class.
“Looking at the current automotive industry, the talk is all about autonomous driving, electrification and artificial intelligence. What that’s doing is giving rise to a lot of strict regulations, and that limits our capacity to make emotional sports cars; it’s getting much more difficult to do that. So for the fifth point, I think the new Supra will be the last present from Toyota to those who enjoy hearing the pleasing sound of a pure petrol engine at high revs.
“Those are my five highlights, and I hope that people will be able to enjoy the new Supra for a long time to come. Perhaps in another 30 years we will be able to meet again and talk about how good it was.”
