The A90 Toyota Supra chief engineer, Tetsuya Tada, claims that he has been asked this question 100 million times across the world. Now, he may be exaggerating (just slightly, just rounding it up), but we can so imagine this. Tada san is surely bored of “the manual question” by now but he’s professional, and he repeats it again here.
At the European launch of the new Supra, Tada told DriveTribe that he hasn’t ruled out a manual gearbox for the reborn sports car, and that a stick shift has been tested. Assistant CE Masayuki Kai has gone on record before to say that a “the hardware is ready” for the A90.
“I’ve been asked this 100 million times across the world. There is a website that polls what you want in new Supra, and manual transmission is always high on the list. I get a notification when people vote for it!” Tada said. “We’ve considered it and things have been tested,” he added.
We’re sure that the good man behind the Supra and 86 knows the joys of rowing your own gears in a sports car, but he’s urging fans to try out the ZF eight-speed automatic in the A90 before dismissing it. “People should give the automatic gearbox a try. But come to it with an open mind. If having driven it people still want a manual, then of course as with normal sports cars there’ll be yearly updates – and we could introduce it,” he said.
So, first try the auto Supra with an open mind (the ZF eight-speeder is great in BMWs, best in the premium class), but if you’re still not satisfied after that, join the manual chorus, and Toyota might just oblige.
Read all about the A90 Toyota Supra here, and see it in a new light – with proper Japanese rims making a huge difference – under the care of HKS here.
GALLERY: A90 Toyota GR Supra, Japan-spec
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Arigato Tada-san, manual Supra come to papa !
Manual no problem. BMW can build it
“We could do it”
You mean BMW could do it. Unless you are thinking of bespoked manual box which is going to be helluva expensive.
Given that Toyota rebadge the Z4 to save development costs of the Supra, I doubt that Toyota would be willing to spend money in building a manual box from scratch. BTW, don’t be surprised if stick shift Supra going to be more expensive than auto ones.
So…all these time preparing to produce the car, Toyota decide to be lazy and swap the engine+gb directly from BMW despite knowing the demand.
Oh…guess yhe Vios habbit carried to the A90.
Sure, an auto maybe faster, but lacks the feel only a manual is able to deliver.
no matter what you said this is still a bmw, you failed, tata
There is a reason why Supra fans prefer stick shift. In the A80, the Getrag 6-speed is almost as tough as the famed 2JZ. Most people talk about how the engine can get tuned to crazy HP figures on stock internals, but that gearbox can pretty much soak up the punishment without needing any upgrade.
Since the A90 is going to be a niche product just offer it in manual form but then again Toyota will need to ask BMW for help since this Supra is practically a Z4 in disguise!
Its so ugly. The Civic is ugly. Japs i guess think like little boys, and many Malaysian boy/men adore these toy car designs.
Toyota is a failed brand for still doing rebadging after so long time existence. So shameful.
hence, give us the manuals!