When you think about Supra, you imagine a car burning rubber on the tarmac, zooming past other fast cars in a bullying manner. Now, if I tell you that a tamed version of the Supra was considered, would you believe me? I heard you scream ‘Shut Up!!’; but, well, that’s the truth. A mid-engine layout was considered for the upcoming Toyota Supra, until Toyota CEO Akio Toyoda threw the idea out of the window. Even though he saved us from the horror, a mid-engine Supra is actually not a bad idea.

The Porsche Cayman has A Fan In The Supra

They were so impressed that Tada even considered making the new Supra mid-engine like the Cayman, but the boss seemed unimpressed and shut the idea as soon as it was run by him.

The Cayman is also the reason why the Supra has the engine at the front. Interestingly, BMW had no objections and was happy to go ahead with the idea of a mid-engined car. “We stuck with front engine because of feel and control. We know how to control a front-engine car, we already have that capability. In the planning stages we suggested a mid-engined layout and BMW was happy to go with it, but I took the idea to Akio Toyoda and he told me off”, said Tetsuya Tada.

This Car Is Going Places

“At some point, I would like to make a track-limited Supra with less weight. We’re already making a racing version so we know if you take out 100kg it’s a completely different car – you don’t even need any more power,” Tada said. When asked if it’ll be a street-legal car, or made only for the track, he said, “We’re investigating both avenues, there’s always a trade-off because being road-legal brings restrictions.”

The multi-talented Supra will also gear up as a NASCAR and will compete in 2019. Tada also said the Supra is looking at the LM GTE category, to ‘school’ the likes of the Porsche 911, Aston-Martin Vantage, Ford GT, and others. Is there anything this Japanese boy-wonder is not trying to do?

Our Take

That means we were almost on the verge of having a mid-engine BMW sportscar. Considering that this was going to be BMW’s flagship sports car, would they have named it differently? Coming back to the Supra, the way the company is going ahead with this car, it will soon have its foot wherever possible. Do you think Toyota is doing the right thing by having the Supra play all-around, or should they focus on just its original avatar and let it dominate there? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Further reading

Read our full speculative review on the 2019 Toyota Supra.

Read our full review on the 2014 Toyota FT-1 concept car.

Read more Toyota news.