Tada rejects Toyota Supra hybrid

The storming new GR Toyota Supra looks set to flout the company’s electrification plans, with no hybrid version planned for the current generation.

Toyota’s global strategy calls for all models to have an electrified option by 2025, but unless the A90 Supra launched this week in Australia has a lifespan that ends in 2024 then it’s been given an exemption from that plan.

We’ve reported the Toyota electrification plan here, although since then Toyota has got even more aggressive and declared it wants electrified vehicles to account for half its sale volume by 2025 rather than 2030.

There was a suggestion from one Toyota official at the launch that the electrification plan referred to model categories rather than each model, which would give the Supra a free pass. But in publicly issued literature here and globally Toyota has been explicitly clear in talking about all models having an electrified option.

The confirmation of no hybrid for A90 Supra came from the car’s chief engineer Tetsuya Tada, who was in Australia this week for the media first drive.

“The Toyota marketing people are asking me to develop a hybrid Supra and I say no,” Tada explained via a translator.

Tada’s objections to hybrid power for the Supra run the gamut from space and technical issues, to an emotional preference for petrol engines.

“When you think about the battery space, the performance will be worse … I don’t like it [hybrid] personally. The weight is the issue.

“Personally I love the nostalgic gasoline engine; the smell and the sound like a sports car.”

The Supra is a very close relation of the new BMW Z4 and the two share a BMW 3.0-litre turbo-petrol inline six-cylinder engine. A hybrid version of that engine does exist.

The only glimmer of hope for a Supra hybrid – if there is any -- offered by Tada was a rethink if the size, weight and performance of hybrid tech improves. Even then he made clear he wouldn’t be taking on the engineering task of a Supra hybrid.

“It won’t be a driving fun because it will be heavier. But of course the technology is advancing so maybe in the near future there will be a point where you can use EV or hybrid in this car, but at the moment not.

“For the new generation engineers, maybe they can do it. I am a very old engineer.”

Tada also made it clear two other Z4 features – a drop-top and a manual gearbox – had been studied but weren’t part of the current Supra development plans.

Despite saying previously that it would be studied, he said he didn’t believe a market existed for a convertible or open-top Supra, while a manual would depend on “market demand”.

But what Tada did confirm — as he has done previously — is that A90 will be build up its power and performance throughout its lifespan from the current 3.0-litre straight-six’s 250kW/500Nm. A hard-core GRMN version is widely expected and he wouldn’t rule it out.

“Maybe it will come,” he said.

Separately, Toyota Australia confirmed there were no “short to medium term” plans for a cheaper 2.0-litre turbo-petrol version of the Supra to join the local line-up either.

That means there are about 300 Supras that will be delivered to Aussie buyers between now and July 2020. About 200 of them have already been accounted for via two online ballots, with the balance to be allocated for on September 25.

More than 80 per cent of orders so far have been for the higher-spec GTS, with Nurburg Matt Grey and Monza Red being by far the most popular paint colours.

The born-again Toyota Supra is priced from $84,900 plus on-road costs for the entry-level GT version, rising to $94,900 for the GTS.

Watch this space for our first Australian review of the new Supra, this Thursday (September 5).