The Toyota Supra Manual Is Official
The Toyota Supra — named a Latin prefix for 'above' — is an iconic sportscar used in different tiers of professional racing, especially in Japan. After halting its production in 2002, Toyota resurrected the Supra in 2019 and followed up the initial release with subsequent updates every year. Since its resurrection, fans have been calling for the return of one key feature: a manual transmission. Fans lamenting the feature's absence can now rejoice as Toyota just teased the next Supra, complete with a manual option.
Toyota's official Twitter account for the U.S. tweeted a picture of a three-pedal setup with hashtags #Supra and #Manual. The 2022 Supra has two engine options with either a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder or a 3.0-liter turbocharged straight-six engine lugging the 3,000-pound beast forward with an eight-speed automatic transmission. Other than teasing the new gearbox, the tweet does not reveal any detail about the availability of the new Supra or the engine configurations of the manual variant.
Supra to feature a 'tailor-made' manual gearbox
Following the tweet, Toyota's UK division also shared a press note announcing that the Toyota Gazoo Racing Supra will feature an "all-new, tailor-made" manual gearbox. This implies that the Supra with the manual transmission will not follow the tradition of the automatic variant using powertrains manufactured by BMW — as seen on the M340i and M440i. Toyota had earlier decided to deploy the four-cylinder engine from the BMW Z4 but changed the plan along the course, opting for a custom engine.
It remains to be seen how Toyota's new engine customized for the Supra stacks up against the manual transmission variants of the BMW M3 and M4. Ending the press release with another hashtag, #savethemanual, Toyota says it will reveal more information about the manual Supra over the coming weeks.
Although there are no rumors about changes besides the new transmission option and the added clutch pedal, an image shared by Toyota with the announcement shows Supra badging in red instead of the usual chrome or black, suggesting the red badging will only come with the manual variant.
Manual transmission limited to the RZ trim
In March 2022, the Japanese blog Creative 311 leaked the specifications of Supra's manual transmission variant. The website notes that the variant will only come in the RZ trim, with a 3.0-liter inline-six twin-turbo engine and a six-speed transmission. It also mentions that the new manual transmission variant was initially meant to arrive with the 2023 Toyota Supra automatic on April 28, but the launch now seems to be pushed back to June. In addition to the manual transmission, the 2023 Toyota Supra has also been speculated to come with a special edition model that will only be available through a lottery system.
Notably, a manual Toyota Supra has been on the cards even before the first model appeared after the hiatus. Considering the announcement comes from Toyota in the UK, a European release is almost confirmed. Upon launch, the GR Supra will join the GR Corolla which was released in the U.S. in March 2021.