Supra is back on Toyota’s radar
Sports car has been off U.S. roads since 1998.
The rumor mill has been set ablaze for years by sports car fans waiting to see if Toyota would ever revive one of its most hallowed nameplates – the Supra.
Well, it’s almost here. Toyota confirmed to USA TODAY that a new one is on the way.
“There will be a Supra. We will announce more next year,” Toyota spokeswoman Nancy Hubbell said.
Toyota teased fans in March at the Geneva Motor Show, where it revealed a concept version of the sports car geared for the racetrack. That vehicle, dubbed the GR Supra Racing concept, was billed as the final step on the road toward a production model for a new Supra.
The company has not set a firm debut date, so whether it will show up at the Detroit Auto Show in January, as some expect, remains unclear. What is certain is that one of the cars that helped put Japan on the performance-car map is ready to make its mark again. As a performance hatchback, Supra not only was known for being quick, but turned heads for its flashy design at the time.
It made an impact on car enthusiasts well before hitting the big screen in the “The Fast and the Furious“in 2001, the first of what has become one of Hollywood’s most successful movie fran- chises ever.
Toyota first introduced the Celica Supra in 1979, and the vehicle built up a cult following for about 20 years, forging on in the U.S. until 1998. It continued production in Japan until August 2002.
“Very nice curves. Bulk in all the right places, it’s one sexy vehicle,” said Sean “Supra” Tahir, 30, an entrepreneur who said he takes being a Supra enthusiast to a whole other level. He said when he was younger, his friends nicknamed him after the car.
He has bought and sold dozens of the performance animal over the years, and he still owns nine of them, from a 1993 twin-turbocharged Targa with a sixspeed transmission to a 1998 Twin Turbo Targa and various models in between.
“It’s still probably one of the bestlooking sports cars. Probably one of the best-looking cars out there of all time,” the vehicle collector based in Peachtree, Georgia, said.
“I was always a ‘gearhead,’ but something about the Supra enticed me. The looks overwhelmed me. That’s why I started buying them in various conditions and shapes when I was just 18,” he said.
While he said he was excited about the announcement of a new Supra, he said he hopes Toyota doesn’t deviate too far from the original.