Toyota Previews 2019 Supra

Toyota Motor Corp. raced a camouflaged version of its upcoming Supra sports car this week at England’s Goodwood Festival of Speed hill climb.

The new Toyota model will be powered by a turbocharged inline-six engine (rumored to be a BMW-sourced 3.0-liter mill) with a limited-slip differential, according to Tetsuya Tada, the car’s chief engineer. He tells Autocar the engine’s output will be equivalent to that of Lexus F-Series models’ 5.0-liter V-8, which generates 467 hp and 389 lb-ft of torque.

The Supra will have a 50:50 weight distribution with a shorter wheelbase and lower center of gravity than Toyota’s sporty GT86 compact car, according to Tada. The new model’s body rigidity is twice that of the GT86.

Tada says the carbon-fiber-intense Supra will be 200-300 kg (440-660 lbs) lighter than the Lexus F-models, which tops out at just under 4,000 lbs. The fourth-generation Supra, which was phased out in 2002, weighed about 3,300 lbs.

Previous reports indicated the Supra will have a standard 8-speed automatic transmission. An optional manual gearbox reportedly is being considered.