The New Supra: Will It Be Loved?
The New Supra: Will It Be Loved?
Words & Images By: Tom Stahler
If you weren’t at the North American Auto Show in Detroit this year, there was one other place to get a glimpse of the hotly anticipated resurrection of the 2020 Toyota Supra: the famed Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale Auctions.
Inspired by the hot selling AE-86, rebranded and beautifully designed several years ago as the boxer-powered FRS and Subaru BRZ, many amongst the faithful, namely fans of The Fast and the Furious franchise, hoped that a new Supra would be forthcoming. Toyota doesn’t dominate North American sales, for nothing. They produce vehicles that both the enthusiast and the layman alike find appealing. With a new Supra, they seemed to answer the calls.
This silver prototype, badged ‘A90,’ like its A40-80 predecessors, unveiled here, will cross the auction block on Saturday, January 19, to benefit the American Heart Association and the Bob Woodruff Foundation. The winning bidder getting the rights to the very first production model, VIN number 20201.
The rear wheel drive sports car shares a lot of DNA with the BMW Z4. A collaborative effort between the Barvarian and Shogun companies, the cars share a platform and numerous components including chassis and power plant. The Supra will be offered in the United States as a turbocharged 3.0 liter inline six, BMW-built B58 motor linked to a ZF 8-speed paddle/automatic transmission, making 335 hp and 365 lb-ft of torque. Interestingly, a manual version is not planned to the chagrin of many enthusiasts. Toyota says the car will have 0-60 mph acceleration in 4.1 seconds, which makes this the quickest Toyota-branded production vehicle to date.
Word on the street, here at Barrett-Jackson, tells us that there are many Toyota dealership owners who plan to bid on the car — despite the usual rumor mill that the bidding war will be between Jay Leno and Jerry Seinfeld. Consider however, Seinfeld is primarily a Porsche collector while Leno leans toward supercars, alternate-energy vehicles and pre-war collectibles, which probably eliminates the two high-profile purveyors.
While the “auction crowd” that clamors into the Westworld Event Center each year are largely the Baby-Boom generation, headed to the twilight of life — and are unloading collections — there is an up-and coming crowd that will undoubtedly see the rise of the classic Japanese Cars. The Fairladys, the JDMs — look for crazy prices on Celicas and Z-cars in the next few years. The display at the Barrett-Jackson Auction was stellar, featuring all previous incarnations of the iconic Japanese sports car.
Interestingly the A80 — or Mk 4 as it is known which was in production through 1998, then featured prominently in The Fast and the Furious, despite having insane performance numbers, did not sell well as it was deemed overpriced by consumers. But naturally, as the crazy-tuned vehicle of Paul Walker’s character, Officer Brian O’Connor, an entire generation fell in love, then sought out the limited selling/numbers car.
Critics are already speaking up about several aspects of the new Supra: a heart that beats German, chassis sharing, design lines, and ultimately, no manual transmission option. One could say, however that based on the sales numbers of the last incarnation, “if you didn’t vote, you shouldn’t have an opinion…”
To say the least, it will be very interesting to watch what demographic buys and how many copies of the new Supra roll onto the streets from dealerships in summer 2020.
Here’s The Numbers:
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Wheelbase
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97.2 in.
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Overall Length
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172.5 in.
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Overall Width
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73.0 in.
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Overall Height
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50.9 in.
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Track Width Front
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62.8 in.
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Track Width Rear
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62.6 in.
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Curb Weight
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3,397 lbs.
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0-60 mph
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4.1 seconds
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TAGS: Toyota, Supra, A90, 2020, VIN number 20201, Barrett-Jackson, Scottsdale Auctions, NAIAS, Detroit, AE-86, Subaru, BRS, FRS, Tom Stahler
