The Toyota Supra is nearing its debut and it will be introduced as an entry-level sportscar, something that would compete with the Porsche 718s, the Mercedes SLCs and its twin, the BMW Z4. It will start with the 3.0-litre straight-six from BMW edging over 350bhp of power and will get an eight-speed gearbox sending the power to the rear wheels.
But, all the enthusiasts who have been waiting for almost two decades (an equivalent of two centuries on the cars timeline) have just one question – would there be a manual gearbox option?
Now there are rumours that Toyota has already developed a stick shift ‘box for the Supra while some say that Toyota might develop one. Toyota hasn’t confirmed or refuted any of them, saying ‘if you are thinking of something, we have already thought about that’.
According to the Japanese carmaker, the answer to the question is fairly simple – demand. While the 3.0-litre Supra is set to be followed by a 2.0-litre turbo-four also mated to an automatic, the company will keep an eye out for people wanting the manual across the global markets.
For the manual to go into mass production, a strong case of demand needs to be presented to warrant the kind of expenses they would incur. But if limited to a few hundred units, the costs of tooling might be lesser, allowing Toyota to offer the manual as an exclusively limited edition car. So, if you haven’t already planned a 2JZ swap for the Supra, which Toyota says is certainly possible, you can start saving for the special edition manual gearbox Supra with a little more horsepower, fancier body kit and some attractive colours to be the star of the garage!
