New Toyota MR2 gathers momentum

Toyota has made no secret of its desire to develop a third dedicated GR sports car to join the new-generation Toyota 86 and Supra coupes, and the final vehicle in its performance car trinity is shaping up to be a born-again MR2.

The latest intel from Japan suggests a GR-badged Toyota MR2 is back on track and could be on sale by 2024, with Spyder7.com having obtained new information pointing to its resurrection.

The Japanese website claims the new ‘Mister Two’ compact sports car will be powered by a 2.8- or 3.0-litre six-cylinder petrol engine equipped with a hybrid module to ensure it meets emissions regulations.

Peak power output is said to be around 255 to 295kW (350 to 400hp).

Spyder7 claims the new Toyota MR2 will employ an exotic mid-engine layout like its predecessors and, like the 86 and Supra (which were co-developed with Subaru and BMW respectively), it will be co-developed with another car-amker to reduce research and development costs.

The car companies bandied about in the report include Porsche and Lotus, but at this stage Toyota has not officially confirmed its third sports car, let alone which car-maker will help create it.

However, Toyota’s global sports car director Tetsuya Tada has always stated the Japanese giant’s modern-era sports car revival would not be complete until a third model – or, as he put it, a ‘third brother’ – was launched.

Back in 2018 Tada-san confirmed a third Toyota sports car was coming, and that “…lots of projects that are also going through at the same time, and our young engineers are working on them, preparing for [another] fun sports car,” he said.

He confirmed the ‘middle’ brother is the 86 and “the older brother is Supra” but said because sports cars are rarely profitable, the development cycle is often protracted.

“To take a sports car up to production there are a lot of hurdles,” explained Tada.

When asked about reviving former nameplates, he said he would be led by market demand.

“Celica, MR2 … they are all requesting these cars. The voices from the market are going to push us [in the right direction] so I would like to hear more from the market,” he said.

When asked about an electric sports car wearing the MR2 badge, Tada appeared to dismiss the idea.

“It's fun to read those stories,” he laughed, lending weight to the latest intelligence from Japan suggesting the MR2 will be a hybrid sports car, not a full EV.

More recently, a 2020 report by Autocar quoted Toyota Europe vice-president Matt Harrison, who all but confirmed the MR2 but stated it was “not a priority” at the time, at least not until the new Toyota GR 86 was released.

With the new Toyota GR 86 project now completed, Toyota’s sports car development team could well have turned its attention to a third sports car.

If so, the burning questions are which car-maker Toyota will form a new alliance with to leverage an existing mid-engine platform and will a reborn Toyota MR2 be a genuine mid-engine scorcher?

Watch this space.

Related: Next-gen Toyota MR2 imagined