The five generations of Toyota Supra

Monday, 29 July 2019

Starting in 1978 as a six-cylinder version of the Celica, the Toyota Supra has become an icon. Now a new version - co-developed with BMW - has been released, so today we take a look at all five generations of Supra.

First generation 1978-81

The first generation of Supra wasn't originally called Supra - it was first sold in Japan as the Celica XX, which tips you off to its origins.

Essentially a Celica with a longer nose to fit an inline six-cylinder engine, the Celica Supra was unleashed on the world in 1979, a year after it debuted in Japan as the Celica XX.

Initially available with the choice of a 92kW 2.0-litre or 82kW 2.6-litre engined (the export models only got the larger engine), the Supra was upgraded to a 2.8-litre six that produced 87kW for its final year of production.

Second generation 1981-85

The Supra continued to be based on the Celica for its second generation that first appeared in 1981, and also continued to be known as the Celica XX in its home market too.

First generation was really just a Celica in drag.

It also continued with 2.0-litre and 2.8-litre inline sixes, with the 2.0 creeping up to 119kW by its final year of production. This would propel the second Supra to 100kmh in 8.7 seconds.

However, in New Zealand we only got the most powerful 133kW 2.8-litre version, which was sold here between 1984 and 1985.

Production delays for the third-gen model meant that the second-gen car was sold as a 1986 model, even though it officially stopped production in 1985.

Third generation 1986-93

Second-gen still based on Celica, although it powered up and was only available as a six-cylinder in NZ.

Considered a very high-tech car at the time, the third generation of Supra saw it separate entirely from the Celica, with the Celica going to the FWD Corona platform, while the Supra remained RWD, sharing its platform and engines with the Japanese market Toyota Soarer.

While it was initially only available with naturally-aspirated inline sixes (2.0-litre and 2.9-litre this time), turbocharged versions of both were added in 1987, making it the first time the Supra went turbo as well.

Eventually a 2.5-litre turbo six was added to the range taking the third-gen Supra's power to 206kW.

Supra number three finally divested itself from the Celica, which moved to a FWD platform. Supra stayed RWD... of course.

Fourth generation 1993-2002

Toyota got serious about the Supra being a proper performance car with its fourth incarnation, dropping the 2.0-litre six altogether and only using the 3.0-litre 2JZ engine in either 164kW naturally-aspirated form or twin-turbo form that produced 203kW in the domestic market, 239kW in Canada and the USA and 243kW in the European market.

The Supra again shared its underpinnings with the Soarer, which was also sold as the Lexus SC.

Fourth version of Supra was the most hi-tech and most outlandish.

The fourth-gen Supra was high-tech and well-regarded, but by the late 1990s buyers had largely lost interest in large coupes, so the Supra was quietly dropped in 2002, although the Soarer lived on as a rebadged version of the awkward Lexus SC 430.

And now it's back, via Gazoo Racing (GR) and with some help from BMW.

Fifth generation 2019

After Toyota revealed its FT-HS concept car in 2007 rumours started swirling that it was going to resurrect the Supra. These intensified in 2010 when the company applied for a trademark for the Supra name and then again in 2014 when it announced it would put the FT-1 RWD coupe concept into production.

It wasn't until 2018 that Toyota finally confirmed that the Supra name would be used on the coupe that it had co-developed with BMW.

The new Supra is the first to use a four-cylinder engine (145kW and 190kW versions of BMW's 2.0-litre turbo four) which, with a different front end, would have made a nice Celica return, if you ask us…