A Manual Toyota GR Supra May Be Around The Corner, But There's a Catch

TopSpeed

By Dimitar Angelov

Published Feb 24, 2022

Toyota may finally be listening to reason; a dealers' notice suggests that a manual gearbox could be available on the GR Supra for the 2023 model year

We have Gazoo Racing – Toyota’s motorsports outfit - to thank for spicing up Toyota’s lineup. The range-topper, of course, is the GR Supra, and exciting new information on that front has just come up. According to Creative 311, a notice has been sent to Toyota dealers in Japan, suggesting that a manual version of the GR Supra will be arriving on the local market by October, as the 2023 model year.

It seems that Toyota may have had enough of all the whining about the GR Supra not offering a manual. While nothing bad could be said about the ZF eight-speed automatic, all of the GR Supra’s competitors – Camaro SS, the Mustang GT, and the new Nissan Z - offer a manual gearbox as standard. The notice, received by Toyota dealers in Japan, is a brief outline of what changes can be expected for the 2023 model year, with full details expected to be released next month.

Toyota is taking an enthusiast-friendly approach even for its EVs, as new patents reveal Toyota’s development of a manual transmission for EVs.} With that being said, it is still unclear whether a manual GR Supra will be a global phenomenon. According to the notice, a manual transmission option will be available only for the top-spec RZ trim, known as the Premium in the U.S. Manual transmission-equipped GR Supras will also boast unique 19-inch forged wheels.

We know Toyota has a manual GR Supra, which is used for tests, confirming that the company has, at the very least, considered it. While we don’t want to get your hopes up in vain, the Nissan Z may have been the final push towards Toyota executives listening to reason and giving us a manual GR Supra, despite initially foregoing it.

This also begs the question, what would happen to the Z4, with which the GR Supra shares a platform? We know the BMW Z4 is near the end of its production run. It’s also more softly sprung than the GR Supra, so we wouldn’t expect a manual option there. When the official details about the 2023 GR Supra arrive sometime next month, we hope to get a more clear idea of whether a manual GR Supra is really coming and which markets will get it.