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Scion FR-S Convertible and Turbocharged Plans Dead for Good

Toyota gave up long time ago on the convertible GT 86, a bittersweet dream that started along with the FT 86 Open concept. The car was simply not engineered to be as enjoyable in a drop-top form and plans went to the bin after Subaru said its factory is not ready to make such a car. Scion however decided to make case for the convertible and even a turbocharged version of its FR-S, wanting to prove the two are worthy.
Red Toyota GT 86 convertible concept 1 photo
Photo: Toyota
Did Toyota’s youth brand manage with the project? According to a Wards Auto report, Scion had to abandon plans and hopes as too much investment was needed for the two models.

“I think we were pretty aggressive on our (submitted plan), but we looked at what we would have conceivably lost on the product and said, ‘We’re not going to even push it further,’” Scion vice president Dough Murtha said. “Nobody was more disappointed than we were.”

The two companies that developed the Toybaru can’t risk further investing into a convertible or more powerful nameplate that’s currently low on sales. The Scion FR-S (basically a Toyota GT 86 with another badge) went 23.2% down in October to 12,293 units sold in the US, while the Subaru BRZ droped off 6.3% shipping only 6,680 models to customers.

DIY to the rescue

This means the FR-S/GT 86/BRZ will simply remain the affordable sportscar platform you can buy and modify according to your own taste. Cosworth is currently offering two performance packages that ramp up the power to about 290 hp and 226 lb-ft (307 Nm), planning to release additional parts that will take the FA20 engine to 380 hp.

Although you don’t have an aftermarket option of a drop top version, there was a very interesting targa top FR-S built by Cartel Customs and Jeremy Lookofsky. Maybe the conversion will get more popular.

The Rocket Bunny kit is already a classic when it comes to radically altering the stock shapes of the Toybaru and if that’s a bit extreme for your taste, Scion is currently offering a limited FR-S Release Series for $29,990, which adds a new yellow exterior finish, custom bumpers and side skirts, rear lip spoiler and air diffuser, quad chrome exhaust tips, TRD steering wheel and gear knob, special mats as well as black seats with a T-pattern and a TRD tuned suspension.

The possibilities are out there for you to try and maybe this is what Toyota and Subaru intended from the beginning - to create a cheap decent sportscar platform with a lot of potential that needs to be explored by fans and the tuning community. Kind of like it happened with the Supra.
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