Toyota Supra convertible on the cards

The striking double-bubble roof of the new-generation A90 Toyota Supra coupe — due on sale in Australia around October 2019 — could be replaced by a soft-top, says chief engineer Tetsuya Tada.

Given the fifth-generation Toyota Supra is based on the same platform as the new BMW Z4 roadster and shares many of its components – including its potent 250kW six-cylinder engine – Tada said the company is naturally considering its options.

During a whistle-stop tour in Australia, as part of the last leg of the Toyota Supra's chassis tuning program, Tada-san told carsales.com.au that a convertible derivative of the all-new two-seat sports coupe was very much on Toyota’s radar.

"Of course we consider this," said Tada-san.

Unlike the Toyota 86 Convertible concept car, which was revealed at the 2013 Geneva motor show but never made the transition to production, any Supra convertible's development costs are already partially paid for.

Now that Toyota is in bed with BMW and the fabric-roofed Z4 and Supra share their platform – and a very flexible, cutting-edge manufacturing base at the Magna Steyr factory in Austria – a convertible Supra is certainly not impossible.

An open-top A90 Supra would stay faithful to its classic sports car predecessors too, with several previous-generation Supra models offered with targa tops incorporating removable roof panels.

It had been widely assumed that the BMW Z4, which eschews its forbear’s folding hard-top, would only ever be a convertible and that its two-seat twin-under-the-skin, Supra, would remain a fixed-roof coupe.

But Toyota executives say there's no binding contract stopping either company from mixing it up, which could not only lead to a convertible Supra, but the first Z4 coupe in generations.

Tada-san wouldn’t be drawn on details of whether the a Toyota Supra convertible is already in development, but the fact he didn't pooh-pooh the idea outright bodes well for extroverts looking for a fast, fun, head-turning Japanese roadster in the same vein as the old Honda S2000.