Twinned with the G29 Z4, the J29 Supra rolled out in March 2019 for the 2020 model year. Assembled in Graz, Austria by contract manufacturer Magna Steyr, this generation of the Supra never was a big seller.
2021 was the Japanese coupe's best year in Europe, during which it moved 6,830 examples. Only a handful of those were sold in the United Kingdom, which is a small market compared to Europe as a whole. Speaking of which, Toyota says "the GR Supra is currently unavailable to order" in the United Kingdom. It's not known whether allocations are maxed out in the UK or Toyota is directing the remaining output to other (as in more lucrative) markets.
Whatever may be going on, two pieces of concrete information are worthy of your attention. First and foremost, the G29 Z4 will be discontinued in March 2026. That means the J29 Supra will soldier on until March 2026 at the latest. As for the second piece of intel, Toyota is currently putting the finishing touches on the spiciest Supra yet in the form of the GRMN.
A nameplate that was never applied to a series-production vehicle intended for the US market, GRMN stands for Gazoo Racing tuned by the Meister of the Nurburgring. A bit obnoxious, but then again, Japanese brands have a thing for genuinely terrible monikers.
Toyota Isis, Daihatsu Naked, Isuzu Mysterious Utility Wizard, Nissan Elgrand Homy, Minica Lettuce, Honda Joy Machine, and Mazda Scrum Buster are only a few examples in this regard. Look beyond the uninspiring name, and you'll understand why the GRMN Supra is 100% worth waiting for.
Photo: S.Baldauf/SB-Medien
From the ZF-supplied manual transmission to the M-supplied S58 engine, Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2, aero upgrades, and larger brakes, you know this fellow isn't for the faint of heart. The big question is, which version of the S58 engine are we dealing with? The rumor mill suggests everything from the M2's 460-ps tune to the 550 ps of the M3 CS and M4 CSL. In old money, that's 453 and 543 mechanical horsepower.
With BMW not planning a Z4-replacing model, one has to wonder if Toyota will develop a brand-new Supra without any outside help. Unverified reports from Japan suggest an electric sports car by decade's end, but remember that Japanese motoring publications are rarely correct about future models.
If the Supra will indeed live on as an electric sports car, the GRMN would be a fine swan song for the internal combustion-engined line started by the Celica Supra in 1978. Speaking of which, the original came with inline-six powerplant choices exclusively. The B58 of the J29 is a straight-six as well, as is the S58 of the much-anticipated GRMN. The base four-cylinder turbo isn't anything to write home about, not when Toyota has a more affordable four-cylinder sports car in the form of the boxer-engined GR86.
The GR86 is listed by Toyota UK with a starting price of 32,495 pounds sterling, which means 41,345 dollars at current exchange rates. The GR Yaris, meanwhile, is available exclusively from dealer stock. If the J29-gen Supra doesn't return to the United Kingdom in 2024 with the GRMN, the Subaru BRZ-twinned GR86 will soldier on as the only GR vehicle in this part of the world.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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