[supra93]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/n...nd-launch-date

Latest shots show Supra's look both inside and out; it'll share its underpinnings and gearbox with the upcoming BMW Z4

The hotly anticipated Toyota Supra will have an automatic gearbox and BMW electronics, as shown by a new sighting of a development car's interior.

Photographed testing at the Nürburgring, the two-seater model, which is twinned with the next BMW Z4, features BMW switchgear, including a dash-top infotainment system and accompanying rotary dial controller on the central tunnel, as well as BMW heating control buttons and a BMW automatic gearlever.

The Supra is expected to share its automatic gearbox with the BMW, albeit with different ratios, while also incorporating the same hybrid four-wheel drive set-up, comprised of a BMW petrol engine mated to electric motors with energy stored in supercapacitors - which will have technical links to the ones used in Toyota’s TS030 Hybrid Le Mans car.

Toyota has refrained from revealing any details about its new coupé, telling Autocar: "We don't comment on future products". However,ut sources claim that the car's use of a hybrid set-up means it will likely be offered exclusively with an automatic gearbox.

Design influence for the model comes from the FT-1 concept of the 2014 Detroit motor show. The Supra will be built on the same platform as the upcoming Z4, which will use BMW’s carbonfibre architecture from its current i3, i8 and 7 Series. However, unlike the convertible Z4, the Supra will only be available as a coupé.

Predicted to arrive in 2018, shortly after its Z4 counterpart, the new Supra is the long-awaited successor to Toyota’s discontinued coupé, production of which ended in 2002.

The new Supra will sit above the GT86 in Toyota’s line-up, making it the Japanese brand’s flagship sports car. It will also be considerably more expensive than the GT86, which is priced from £26,855, due to the Supra's advanced powertrain and construction.

Toyota first demonstrated the performance potential of a hybrid model back in 2013 with the Yaris Hybrid-R concept car, which used a 414bhp set-up comprising a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine and an electric motor on each rear wheel.