It has to be true if he keeps saying it, right? We hope so, because Tetsuya Tada, the man behind the new Supra and 86, has once again mentioned the ‘Three Brothers’, more than hinting at a revival of Toyota’s 90s sports car trio – Supra, Celica, MR2.
To add weight, Tada wasn’t talking to some journalists over beer, he was interviewed by his colleagues at Toyota GB, who then printed the transcript in full. Toyota’s sports car guru even name-dropped his boss, company president Akio Toyoda. Now, this could be fatal if there’s no truth in the Three Brothers talk, so we’ll take it as confirmed. Here’s what he said in full.
“Akio has always said that as a company he would like to have Three Brothers, with the GT86 in the middle and Supra as the big brother. So we’ve tried to aim for the Supra to offer an overwhelming superiority in all attributes,” said Tada, who chaperoned the Supra at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
There you have it. The upcoming A90 Supra will be the big bro, the flagship sports car with the performance to match. Tada places the much-loved Toyota 86 in the middle, which leaves room for a compact sports car to be positioned below the 86.
It was a great time to be a carbuyer in the 1990s. Just imagine walking into a Toyota showroom to be greeted by the A80 Supra, T180 Celica and SW20 MR2 on the same floor. Such a day might come again in the (not too distant, we hope) future, with the new Supra, the 86 and…. an MR2 successor?
Toyota wheeled out the S-FR concept at the 2015 Tokyo Motor Show, following that up with a racing version at the 2016 Tokyo Auto Salon. The small (3,990 mm long, 1,695 mm wide) rear-wheel drive concept was a sub-1,000 kg 2+2, and it was rumoured to have a 1.5 litre NA engine from the JDM Corolla Axio.
There has been no update on the S-FR concept ever since, but throw in a removable top and it could be a nice spiritual successor to the MR2, if developing a mid-engined sports car from scratch is too much of an ask. Such a car would also be an alternative to the Mazda MX-5, which has become smaller and lighter in this generation. The ND MX-5 is also available with a 1.5 litre engine.
Three’s a company, and we’re excited at the prospect of the modern day Three Brothers. You?
GALLERY: Toyota S-FR Concept from Tokyo 2015
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JDM legends to revive hooray
Toyota NSX yo’
I mean the Honda NSX?
Inb4 Toyota rebadges NSX. Toyota Raja Celup from top to bottom.
And U are drooling when U can afford one of these Celup Right!!!
Not really. If i wanna Z4, i will get a Z4, not some jepunis celup. Neither is the current NSX desirable compared to 1st gen Senna tuned NSX.
john is so shy now after MAA released figures that UMW sales jump from 2000 to 11,500 last month.
Toyota is truly the top quality seller in Malaysia. Rakyat has spoken
“The Passion is Back” thats when Toyota makes gud cars. Now the passion is long gone and u only get keli vios.
John stop being negativity about Toyota. You may hurt the readers. Just make the news fair.
Truth hurts bro. But it’s still the truth
hear! hear!
To Veyron Owner, I betcha U don’t know how much it cost to service a Veyron bcoz if U own one, U won’t be trolling here. I will tell U if U ask NICELY…
What’s wrong bashing Toyota?
If Toyota make great car we said great .when Toyota make junk car we said junk.
After all Toyota fanboys bash other car brands too. It is time other car brands fanboys bash back Toyota . This is fair and the world is merry go round always.
Hear! Hear! Hear!
Actually toyota already got little brother…vios trd sportivo
Lolz!
Sports car below 86 should be a kei car
Well like what Toyota is advertising here with its #drive tag but the only problem is its entire lineup is boring to drive and no the Vios is not sporty.
“Vios is not sporty” Not according to Toyota SA and lalabengs
Since when the article said Vios is a sporty car??
Ask seancorr. Why ask me?
I prefer to ask U bcoz U are the No1 basher of everything Toyota.
Then ur comprehension clearly failed. Please read the from start of the comment tered.
S-FR concept is very interesting in my opinion. Toyota & Daihatsu & (Perodua, if Japanese does agree a non-nihon company) could share this little platform which can share parts and cut development cost.
Japanese car company thou will need to crack their heads to manufacture, design and market these car according to brand.
Toyota setup as MR-2 replacement, mid engine rear wheel drive.
Daihatsu setup as Copen replacement, front engine front wheel drive.
Perodua on other hand will boost selling their very first sport compact with Myvi engine.. well probably Front engine rear wheel drive.
I hope they bring back also Starlet. That car totally legend meh, bolt in big turbo sure fly.
I like the SFR. A radical design like the CR-Z I used to own. Not sure if it will actually be made.
Why not build some FF-sportscar for small bro? Type-R rival?
Bring back the freaking S-FR!!!!
Oh hell no
The S-FR better not be the successor to the legendary MR2
I want a new midship car and not front engined
S-FR better be a seperate car from the MR2 and not a succesword
Way back when in the 1970’s The Toyota Celica was the Mustang of Japan in both looks and the niche it filled. The current supra is taking the place of an ultralight sports car so a new Celica could very well take the place of a Japanese Pony Car to compete with the Ford Mustang as well as the Camaro. Toyota already has a plethora of V8s from the 467hp 5.0L v8 or the 381hp 5.7L V8 that now has an optional 507hp supercharger pacakge from TRD and other high performance TRD parts and accessories. What’s stopping Toyota from taking the same chassis from the Lexus RC or LC coupes, tweaking the drive trains a bit (say a 5.7L I-Force V8 with upgraded cylinder heads and cams designed from the Lexus 5.0L but tuned for a different torque and power band, big brakes similar to what’s on the RC-F Lexus, performance suspension and drive train, up gradable parts from TRD such as cold air intakes, superchargers, suspensions, exhaust systems, wheels, ground effects, spoilers, lights, etc. take an exterior design that had a lot of the modern Toyota sports coupes body language but still paying homage to the 1970’s Celicas, give it a stronger version of the Lexus RC AWD system but still rear-wheel biased and call it a day.