Toyota 86 celebrates milestone with BRZ blue

The Toyota 86 has found 20,000 homes in Australia, making it the second most popular sports car from the Japanese brand since the Celica.

To celebrate, Toyota has released a new special-edition colour for its affordable rear-drive compact coupe – Apollo Blue, which looks a lot like the WR Blue hero hue of its sister model, the Subaru BRZ.

All Toyota 86s are available with a burger-with-the-lot performance package that includes black leather-accented cabin upholstery and black exterior finishes (wheels, rear spoiler, mirrors).

Also included are bigger 326mm front disc brakes and Brembo callipers, uniquely calibrated Sachs shock absorbers and 10-spoke 17-inch alloy wheels, much like the Subaru BRZ tS.

The performance kits costs $2900 for the standard Toyota 86 (from $31,440 plus on-road costs), $2200 for the top-spec Toyota 86 GTS (from $36,640 plus ORCs) and, now, $2950 for GTS models -- including the new blue paint.

Toyota Australia says the 86's new sales milestone cements its place in history as the first Toyota sports car to eclipse 20,000 sales since the Celica -- way back in 1975.

But over a 35-year lifespan the Celica averaged just 3200 annual sales, while the 86 has topped it with 3300 a year over the past six years.

In comparison the 86 smashes other sports car out of the water, including the Toyota Supra with 2895 sales and the Toyota MR2 with a total of 3451 sales in Australia.

Toyota Australia's vice-president of sales and marketing Sean Hanley said the 86 was just the first of a new breed of sporty Toyotas.

"The sales success of the Toyota 86 has been impressive, and it is just the start of a new era of excitement within our company," he said.

"Toyota's designers and engineers are continuing to display their commitment to more desirable styling and greater driving enjoyment with cars like the latest Camry, the upcoming Corolla and next year's RAV4.

"This passion is also evident in Toyota's decision to resurrect the famous Supra name in a car that is under development and slated for launch soon."

Currently the Toyota 86 is powered by a 152kW 2.0-litre non-turbo petrol boxer engine, but there's more firepower coming in the born-again Toyota Supra in mid-2019.

The next-generation Toyota Supra will have an inline six-cylinder engine with a lot more mumbo than the 86.

At the 2019 Toyota Corolla launch in the USA, Hanley also told motoring.com.au the was positive about a new-generation hot hatch coming to Australia, the Toyota Corolla GR, which would add another arrow to Toyota's performance car quiver.

For now, at $35,590 plus ORCs, the Toyota 86 GTS performance pack manual in Apollo Blue compares favourably with the STI-badged Subaru BRZ tS, which costs $39,894 plus ORCs.

It should be noted, however, that the sharp new Subaru BRZ tS finished eighth out of 14 cars at the 2018 running of Australia's Best Driver's Car, besting the likes of the Ford Mustang, Kia Stinger and Nissan 370Z NISMO.