Toyota and Suzuki hatching MX-5 rivals

Toyota is reportedly developing a long-awaited successor to the popular mid-engined Toyota MR2 that's set to rival the Mazda MX-5 roadster.

According to Japan's Best Car magazine, the sports car being plotted by the world’s biggest car-maker will be a “mid-ship run-about 2-seater” that is expected to be heavily inspired by the Toyota Sports EV concept revealed back in December 2021.

Tipped to be developed by Toyota's Gazoo Racing performance brand, the reborn MR2 will also have input from both Suzuki and Daihatsu, both of which will share R&D costs and offer their own versions.

Raising plenty of eyebrows back when it was unveiled, the original Toyota Sports EV featured a cooling package that didn't quite compute for what was supposed to be a small sports car powered by a pure-electric powertrain.

Witness the large air-intakes under both of its C-shaped LED running lights, which were joined by another set of twin horizontal openings beneath the bonnet. If that's not enough to raise suspicions it won’t be an EV, there's also a pair of openings in the rear fenders.

All that cooling is needed, says the Japanese mag, because the production version of the sports car being developed will be powered by a mid-mounted 1.0-litre turbo-petrol three-cylinder with mild-hybrid technology, producing around 90kW/200Nm.

Likely to weigh in at less than 1000kg, it’s expected to deliver class-leading emissions and fuel-efficiency, while performance should at least be on par with the 97kW/205Nm 1.5-litre MX-5.

To help keep costs as low as possible, Suzuki is developing the turbo-triple, while the front suspension will be lifted from the current Toyota Yaris.

According to the new report, the all-new MR2 will ride on a 2550mm wheelbase and measure about 4200mm long, 1720mm wide and just 1220mm tall, making it 285mm longer, 15mm narrower and 5mm lower than the Mazda MX-5.

Offering drop-top thrills, the small Toyota/Suzuki/Daihatsu sports cars will all have a removable targa roof panel.

According to Best Car, the new MR2’s target price is 2.2-2.8 million Japanese yen, which could see prices kick off at around $A23,000 if the new sports is signed off for production.

It's not the first time Toyota has toyed with the idea of a baby sports car. Back in 2015 it showed off the cute S-FR front-drive concept, which was rumoured to be close to production before the car-maker pulled the plug.

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