Photo: Toyota Motor Corporation
Toyota likes to develop its sports cars with other manufacturers during times of financial distress and great transformations. Case in point, the collaboration with BMW for the fifth-generation A90 GR Supra. But we also need to remember the 86/BRZ duo of sports cars developed with Subaru. They have been around for almost a decade and might just be the focus of an upcoming reveal event.
With Toyota the owner of a stake in Subaru for years, it’s no secret the two companies are working together on several important projects. One of them has to do with the upcoming arrival of their first zero-emissions crossover SUV developed as the initial representative of the e-TNGA family.
But Toyota has already revealed in a prior teaser that it will introduce the electric vehicle during the 2021 Shanghai Motor Show. It does take place in April, just like the event jointly teased by Toyota and Subaru, though at a much later date (the public days for the Chinese show are scheduled for April 21-28).
Since there’s no other way to put it, the next best usual suspect for the April 5 event in Japan is the Toyota GR 86 version of the already-revealed 2022 Subaru BRZ. After all, if we read correctly between the lines (granted, they’re Google-translated from Japanese, so goofs may arise occasionally), the discussion will include not only Toyota and Subaru specialists but also Gazoo Racing officials.
The online talk, entitled “Let’s Make Ever Better Cars Together,” will see a vehicle unveiled by Koji Sato (president of Gazoo Racing) and Tetsuro Fujinuki (Subaru’s Chief Technology Officer) and has been scheduled to begin at exactly 13:00; that's probably JST, so it translates to 21:00 PST and 00:00 ET.
Of course, we might be mistaken and Toyota and Subaru will unveil something else entirely, especially given a recent report claiming the GR 86 will be delayed for one year because Akio Toyoda has deemed it to similar to the all-new Subaru BRZ sister car. That said, you should take all this with the proverbial grain of salt.
But Toyota has already revealed in a prior teaser that it will introduce the electric vehicle during the 2021 Shanghai Motor Show. It does take place in April, just like the event jointly teased by Toyota and Subaru, though at a much later date (the public days for the Chinese show are scheduled for April 21-28).
Since there’s no other way to put it, the next best usual suspect for the April 5 event in Japan is the Toyota GR 86 version of the already-revealed 2022 Subaru BRZ. After all, if we read correctly between the lines (granted, they’re Google-translated from Japanese, so goofs may arise occasionally), the discussion will include not only Toyota and Subaru specialists but also Gazoo Racing officials.
The online talk, entitled “Let’s Make Ever Better Cars Together,” will see a vehicle unveiled by Koji Sato (president of Gazoo Racing) and Tetsuro Fujinuki (Subaru’s Chief Technology Officer) and has been scheduled to begin at exactly 13:00; that's probably JST, so it translates to 21:00 PST and 00:00 ET.
Of course, we might be mistaken and Toyota and Subaru will unveil something else entirely, especially given a recent report claiming the GR 86 will be delayed for one year because Akio Toyoda has deemed it to similar to the all-new Subaru BRZ sister car. That said, you should take all this with the proverbial grain of salt.
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