New Toyota Supra: key performance details revealed

Toyota has sped up the drip feed of information around the 2019 Supra sports car, revealing key details on its wheelbase, weight and engine specifications.

Due to be launched to the press in Europe in September ahead of a mid-2019 global roll out, the Toyota Supra made its dynamic reveal (albeit heavily camouflaged) at the Goodwood Festival of Speed at the weekend, where Toyota chief engineer for the project, Tetsuya Tada, let loose some key information.

"I can't disclose specific figures, but the output of this engine is on a par with that which we have with the F-Series from Lexus," Tada told English publication Autocar from the event, pointing to a torque figure of about 530Nm.

"But you can imagine from seeing it that the car is light and compact – its wheelbase is even shorter than the Toyota GT86. It's around 200-300kg lighter than the F-Series," said Tada.

Also pictured here are CG renders and what we can surmise from Tada's comments is the fifth-generation, 'A90' Supra will tip the scales at about 1500kg and will feature a wheelbase shorter than 2.57 metres. This backs leaked information that said the Supra would officially weigh 1496kg – which is 14kg lighter than the predecessor model.

While the Lexus F-Series uses a naturally aspirated-V8 that boasts 351kW, the Supra’s BMW-sourced turbocharged straight-six engine is expected to deliver a figure closer to 260kW, Tada-san implied.

Like the Toyota 86, the Japanese car-maker is set to carefully marry the engine’s outputs with the rest of the vehicle, offering a simple, rear-driven balance complemented by 50:50 weight distribution and a limited-slip differential. Driving pleasure has been prioritised ahead of outright performance.

The Supra will send drive via an eight-speed torque-converter automatic, derived from the BMW Z4 with which it also shares the same carbon-fibre architecture.

"The centre of gravity is lower than the GT86's," Tada said, "and body rigidity is twice that of the GT86."

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Also revealed at Goodwood were elements of the Supra's interior, which confirmed the Toyota would share much of the BMW's switchgear and iDrive rotary controller.

Toyota is set to offer several variants of the Supra with varying power outputs. A hybrid version of the car is also predicted.

Although Australian arrival details have not been confirmed all Toyota Supra models will be sourced from Austria, the car built alongside its twin-under-the-skin, BMW Z4 at the Magna Steyr factory.

Pricing for the new Toyota Supra is unknown with speculation spanning Nissan 370Z to Nissan GT-R money, which is roughly $60,000 to $190,000.