Born-again Toyota Supra confirmed for Australia

Toyota’s fifth-generation Toyota Supra has made its Australian debut in concept form, but the production version is yet to be officially confirmed for local release.

However, while Toyota Australia remains cagey about Supra details -- including its local launch, pricing and specs -- motoring.com.au understands the born-again Toyota Supra will be confirmed for the Aussie market at a European drive event in September.

The global rollout of the new Toyota Supra will begin in early next year and, depending on worldwide demand, the high-performance sports car should be available here from around mid-2019.

To maintain the hype, its launch has been preceded by the appearance of the one-off Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept, which premiered at the Geneva motor show in March, at special functions around the world – including the 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed, where a camouflaged production version of the new Supra made its world debut.

Demonstrating just how important the Aussie market will be for the new tyre-frying, rear-drive coupe, the multi-million-dollar Toyota Supra concept was air-freighted directly from Goodwood for a brief viewing by media and enthusiasts at Toyota Australia HQ in Port Melbourne on Saturday.

Australians buy a disproportionately high number of high-performance cars and the GR Supra Racing Concept’s flying visit was designed to whet the appetites of Supra fans -- and potentially a few Ford Mustang and Porsche Cayman owners too.

Toyota Australia’s public affairs manager, Brodie Bott, said the concept car’s arrival in Australia was "hugely exciting".

"There are a lot of die-hard fans here in Australia when it comes to Supra, and to top it off it’s a $2.7 million concept. That would probably make it the most expensive Supra going round I’d say!"

Developed in tandem with the next-generation BMW Z4 roadster, which will be built alongside it at the Magna Steyr plant in Austria, the 2019 Toyota Supra coupe will become the Japanese giant’s flagship sports car.

We know the compact rear-wheel drive two-seater will weigh just under 1500kg, offer 50:50 weight distribution and bring the choice of either 195kW 2.0-litre inline turbo four-cylinder or 250kW 3.0-litre turbo inline six-cylinder engines.

Australian pricing for the new Toyota Supra is a hot topic, but Toyota is keeping mum for now.

Best guesses are that the 2019 Toyota Supra will be priced to compete with the Ford Mustang, with a sub-$60,000 price for the entry-level 2.0-litre version, but the jury’s out on the big-daddy six-cylinder Supra.

Depending on equipment levels, the fastest Supra should still cost well under $100,000.

Bott wouldn’t talk about local details, but when asked whether the 2019 Toyota Supra will be one of the brand’s most expensive models (the Toyota LandCruiser Sahara V8 diesel costs a smidge over $120,000), thus putting it out of reach for many buyers, Bott appeared unfazed.

"I talked to one of the Supra car club guys earlier and I said ‘Will you trade in the old one?’. He said ‘No I just need to find more room in the garage.’

"So I think with that in mind it’s pretty safe to say for most people they’ll want to get their hands on one, regardless of the cost."

"We are getting lots of requests direct to us and via dealers," said Bott, conceding that global demand for the first Supra in more than a decade will be significant.

This will make supply tight and could result in lengthy queues, not unlike the 12-month waits customers endured when the new-gen Ford Mustang first launched here in January 2016.

"We always push for as many cars as possible and we’re still crunching numbers at the moment, but something like the Supra is not always about volume," offered Bott.

Toyota will invite automotive media to drive pre-production versions of the new 2019 Toyota Supra in Europe in September, which is when first Australian details will be announced, according to our sources.

There will be road and track testing in Spain but the exterior and interior of the new Toyota Supra will remain camouflaged until the brand decides to officially reveal the car.

It’s unclear when or where that will be, but there’s talk that the world’s biggest enthusiast and tuning expo, SEMA in Las Vegas, could be the place in early November.

The 2019 Toyota Supra revives an iconic sports car nameplate that stretches back to 1978 and has a cult following among enthusiasts and tuners.

Positioned above the Toyota 86 coupe ($31,000-$40,000), it will be a new halo model that’s expected to bring more customers into Toyota dealerships, providing a flow-down effect on sales of other models such as the all-new Toyota Corolla that here in August.

"The Supra represents a new chapter for Toyota and the new TNGA architecture is really helping us move the direction of Toyota forward as well," said Bott.

"You see it in the C-HR, you’ll see it in the new Corolla. It’s lower to the ground, it’s a more rigid body, it has a sportier design. It is a really exciting time for Toyota."

Stay tuned for more Supra details as they leak out…