You have to admire Toyota for really taking its time to develop the returning Toyota Supra. If it were me, I’d probably be doing the same thing too. That’s how important the Supra is to me and I sure as heck will leave no stone unturned to make sure that the car lives up to not just its hype, but it’s legacy as well. Doing so takes time and a lot of patience. As a result, people will start getting anxious about the sports car, and the longer the wait is, the more anxious people get. Good thing that we’re at a point where details are slowly coming in. The latest one from a Toyota insider indicates that the sports car will indeed have in excess of 400 horsepower on tap.

Now, this isn’t exactly breaking news because we’ve heard this narrative before. This time, though, the information comes from the IH8MUD forum, specifically one member who spoke to an insider from Toyota, who is apparently more plugged-in on the wheelings and dealings inside Toyota than most other so-called sources. Part of that discussion centered around the status of the Supra and in addition to saying that the sports car will indeed get north of 400 horsepower, the insider also indicated that the sports car will have its own 3.5-liter V-6 turbo engine that Toyota jointly developed with BMW, and not the latter’s tried-and-tested 3.0-liter twin-turbo inline-six engine. Don’t expect the production Supra though to hit the scene until 2019, even though it is expected that we’re going to see a near-production concept at the Tokyo Motor Show in October.

Continue after the jump to read the full story.

All this talk about the Toyota Supra is getting me more excited

Note: upcoming Toyota Supra TopSpeed rendering.

At this stage in the development of the Toyota Supra, it’s hard to really conceal the excitement anymore. The latest, and presumably last concept will appear in Tokyo and the production model is apparently scheduled to hit dealerships in the early part of 2019. It may still be a little over a year, but at this point, we’ve waited long enough – five to six years depending on which part of the joint BMW and Toyota development you started taking seriously – for the sports car to arrive. What’s another year or so of waiting, right?

Now, as far as the insider’s revelations are concerned, the fact that he mentioned the sports car’s output exceeding 400 horsepower is another indication that this is the number that we really should be looking out for. It would make sense on the surface if Toyota really wants the Supra to sit above the GT86. 400 horsepower would be enough differentiation – double the output, really – to set apart both models.

Just as important a revelation is the possibility of the sports car getting a manual transmission as an option, a development that runs counter to the previously-held belief that the Supra will only get an automatic gearbox. And speaking of rumors that are slowly turning into possibilities, word of a hybrid version also received a shot in the arm as the insider said that there are plans to develop one in the future, possibly in the middle stages of the Supra’s life cycle. If a hybrid does come to fruition, it’s not hard to imagine it sitting at the top of the Supra line as the range-topping model.

Toyota Supra spy shoot photo.


The only downside to all these rumors and insiders is that with the Supra’s launch closer than it’s ever been, it’s hard to filter all the whispers to determine which ones are legitimate and which ones are nothing more than fluff. Fortunately, this insider is reportedly well-informed when it comes to Toyota’s business. Here’s to hoping that his new revelations all end up coming true. A 400-horsepower, manual-transmission Toyota Supra is the car a lot of us have been waiting for.

References

2019 Toyota Supra

Read our speculative review on the 2019 Toyota Supra.

1993 - 1998 Toyota Supra

Read our full review on the 1993 - 1998 Toyota Supra.