SPY PICS: Toyota Supra could be auto-only

The latest spy photos of the new-generation Toyota Supra sports car show it blasting around the Nurburgring, its road-hugging bodywork and sleek design powerful reminders of what the Big-T is shooting for.

But purists hoping for a bit of heel-and-toe action in their high-performance hybrid hottie may want to adjust their expectations, because new information to hand implies this test vehicle, at least, is an automatic vehicle.

It's always been understood that the resurrected Toyota Supra, arriving late in 2018, would feature electrification and all-wheel drive is expected too. But there'll be an army of purists out there who are hoping this test mule is not indicative of the sole transmission option.

Sharing an all-new platform with BMW's upcoming Z5 sports car, and expected to adopt carbon-fibre in its frame, this Toyota Supra features BMW switchgear and controls and even the iDrive controller, and the unmistakable shape of a BMW automatic gear stick. This suggests it will make use of an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox.

That's not to say a manual gearbox has been ruled out. Toyota isn't commenting on any aspect of the vehicle as yet, but more details are tipped to be revealed in October at the 2017 Tokyo motor show.

Toyota has managed to keep all the technical specifications of its new halo car a secret thus far but other hybrid vehicles have offered manual gearboxes, including the world's first hybrid sports car the Honda CR-Z.

All-wheel drive and a high power output courtesy of a hybrid petrol-electric powertrain – most likely featuring inline four- and six-cylinder combustion engines cranking out up to 300kW – should give the car a significant turn of speed.

The Supra name is all-but confirmed and the cutting-edge sports car will be part of the Toyota's oft-discussed "three pillar" sports car assault, which started with the Toyota 86.

It'll be continued with a compact MX-5-sized rival based on the tiny Toyota S-FR concept, a light-weight funster most likely powered by a 1.2-litre turbo-petrol engine.

But the big-daddy flagship will be the car that everyone is gossiping about, the reborn Toyota Supra. If it does ditch a manual gearbox and sell exclusively as an automatic its unlikely to hurt its sales potential. But street credibility is another issue altogether.