While many European automakers have bailed out of the Detroit auto show, there will be at least one major global debut from a foreign automaker: Toyota's 2020 Supra.
Toyota this week confirmed Detroit will be the venue for the debut of the fifth generation of the Supra sports car. The low-slung coupe, developed with BMW, shares its underpinnings and some mechanical components with the BMW Z4. The Z4 roadster had its global debut in August at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance.
Toyota pulled the last Supra from North America in 1998, but the car remained in production for other markets until 2002. Toyota has struggled with sporty coupes ever since. New versions of the Celica and MR2 Spyder, for example, failed to sell well.
Previous generations of the Supra were powered by inline-six engines that delivered crisp performance. The last generation model offered a twin-turbo six that gave near supercar performance of 0-to-60 mph times under 5 seconds and a top speed of more than 150 mph. But the car was prohibitively expensive, selling for more than $50,000 in 1996.
Technical details on the new Supra are sparse.
Toyota doesn't have an inline-six in production, but Road & Track has reported that Toyota confirmed that the 2020 Supra would get an inline-six. The magazine said documents from supplier ZF Friedrichshafen indicate the engine likely would be from BMW. That would be rare for Toyota, which almost never uses engines from other automakers. The recent boxer engine in the Toyota 86 coupe, however, is an exception. That engine is manufactured by Subaru.
Spy photos show the new Supra as a sleek, rakish hardtop, but it's unclear if the roof panels can be removed -- an optional feature of the last generation Supra. Toyota has given styling hints of the new car in the FT-1 concept coupe.
Toyota plans to auction the first production unit off the assembly line and donate the money to charity. Toyota spokeswoman Nancy Hubbell said more details on how the auction will be set up will be released closer to the Detroit show, which begins with press days on Jan. 14 and opens to the public Jan 19.