New Chairman Urges Toyota to Develop Supra-Like Sport Coupe

What Toyota Motor Corp. needs is an upscale sports car akin to the Supra coupe it produced in the 1980s and 1990s, says Takeshi Uchiyamada, who takes over as Toyota's chairman this week.

Toyota and BMW AG said earlier this year they would co-develop a midsize sports car to bow several years from now.

Uchiyamada opines to Automotive News that there would be little point in developing another low-priced sports car like the $24,900 Toyota 86 coupe (called the GT86 in Europe and Scion FR-S in the U.S.) introduced last year. That model was co-developed with Subaru, which markets its own version as the BRZ.

But the new chairman also claims Toyota engineers will decide how to position the new car. "It's not me who makes the decision," he demurs.

Still, Uchiyamada heads the Toyota team that is negotiating with BMW. A company spokesman tells AN no decision has been made about market positioning for the model.