Geneva 2018: 2019 Toyota Supra Unveiled...sort of...

Fans rejoice, the 2019 Toyota Supra is finally unveiled. A little bit.

2019 Toyota Supra In Disguise

Toyota’s insistence that it’s going to get more interesting as a carmaker is finally coming true with our first decent look at the new Supra.

Annoyingly it’s covered in racing warpaint and for some reason has the unwieldy GR Supra Racing Concept name. But at the very least we have an insight into what the returning icon looks like.

GR stands for Gazoo Racing, Toyota’s go-to for making things go quickly – witness the Gazoo Yaris WRC car. Toyota is really stringing this release out for as long as possible…

First showing the car as a racing concept is ploy to make you think Toyota is sexy. In a way, it is – the company is involved in Dakar, World Rally Championship and LMP1 racing, which isn’t mucking about.

The new Supra isn’t just the long-awaited return of an icon – it’s a co-production with BMW. The same car with different panels will be the new Z4. Why are they doing this? Sports cars are expensive to develop and make so generating cash from them is hard. That’s why Subaru and Toyota (ahem) shared (cough) the development costs of the BRZ/86 twins.

Toyota is again scoring the better end of the engine deal, with the Supra most likely offered with BMW’s turbo straight-six engines, as will the Z4. I’d put good money on 20i and 30i-ish versions of the Z4.

GR Concept

The GR Concept is a fully-fitted race car with slick Michelins on the wheels. There’s a full cage, fire extinguishing gear, plastic windows and adjustable pedal box. So, yeah, expect a global one-make race series. Or perhaps even a Z4 Supra series. Actually, perhaps not.

See the racing number on the side? The old Supra codes were JZA70 and JZA80, so you could probably expect JZA90.

As is the recent habit, the GR Concept will also appear in a no-doubt gigantic update to Sony’s Gran Turismo Sport. The update should roll out in April 2018 so you can get stuck in around the Nurburgring.

What’s a Gazoo?

Gazoo racing has been kicking around since 2007, its first race the Nurburgring 24 Hours. The team started off as a bunch of very keen Toyota employees, entering the race with a pair of Altezzas (Lexus IS200).

Since then Gazoo has become Toyota Gazoo Racing and is the brand’s racing division. Pretty straightforward, really.