Toyota Supra
The Toyota Celica Supra was a sports car/grand tourer produced by Toyota Motor Company from 1979 to 2002. The styling of the Toyota Celica Supra was derived from the Toyota Celica, but it was both longer and wider. Starting in mid-1986, the Supra (in its third generation, MKIII) became its own model and was no longer based on the Celica. In turn, Toyota also stopped using the prefix Celica and began just calling the car Supra. Due to the similarity and past of the Toyota Celica's name, it is frequently mistaken for the Toyota Supra, and vice versa.
The Supra also traces much of its roots back to the Toyota 2000GT with the main instance being its engine. The first three generations were offered with a direct descendant to the 2000GT's M engine. All four generations of Supra produced have an inline 6-cylinder engine, one of the few piston engine configurations with theoretically perfect mechanical balance, leading to very low vibration from the engine.
The name is a combination of Celica and the word Supra. "Celica" is derived from Latin and its literal translation is "celestial" or "from the heavens". "Supra" is a word that is derived from Latin that stands for "over, above, beyond, or greater than". Therefore, a translation to English would be something like "from above the heavens" for the entire term.
Along with this name and car Toyota also included its own logo for the Supra. It is derived from the original Celica logo (it's just orange instead of blue). Often people think it is some sort of swan, but it more closely resembles a dragon. The logo was on Supras until 1989 when Toyota switched to its current oval company logo.
In 1999, Toyota ceased sales of the Supra in the United States and in 2002 Toyota officially stopped production of the Supra in Japan.
Throughout the past couple of years, major print and online auto publications have hinted at a possible revival of the Supra in 2007/2008, pointing the car in different directions. The vehicle was originally thought to be the flagship or halo model in the Toyota lineup, be powered by a high output V8, and have an estimated cost anywhere between $50,000 and $70,000.
Other rumors hint at a V10 F1-inspired powerplant, like the current BMW M5 and M6, though current F1 engines have been downgraded to V8s. Power is likely 450 bhp or more, as this was likely due to the increasing number of sighting of a high performance sports car being tested throughout Europe and, more specifically, on the Nürburgring. These vehicles turned out to be the test mules for Lexus' future Lexus LF-A.
After this was discovered, it was then believed that that if a new Supra were to be released, it will be positioned to compete directly against the Nissan Skyline. It was expected to be available as a coupe and convertible, have a V6 producing around 350+ hp, and cost between $25,000 and $35,000. Throughout recent years, different publications as well as fans of the Supra have created several renditions of what a new Supra might look like if it were ever to be produced.
Topspeed.com was among a number of publications that claimed that there will be a return of the Supra in 2008 but Toyota disclaimed this rumor on August 15, 2006. The same numerous publications that originally speculated on a future Supra all stated no new vehicle was being developed. According to an AutoWeek article on current and upcoming Toyota vehicles, all rumors on the Supra's return are false. Automotive News also claim Toyota has absolutely no plans for a Supra in the future.
" All the rumors of the two-passenger sports car's return are false." - Automotive News
Toyota Supra Video
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia and Youtube
