Toyota Supra could bow out with 382kW M-powered special

It seems the clock has been put on the current generation A90 Toyota Supra but, according to Japanese title Best Car, it looks set to go out with a bang.

In its July 2020 issue, Best Car has reported that a 382kW/608Nm GRMN version of the Supra will be introduced in 2023, utilising the 3.0-litre twin-turbo S58 engine of the BMW M3/M4, mated to a seven-speed dual-clutch transmission.

In the interim, the Supra will migrate to a 285kW/500Nm GR (Gazoo Racing) version of the existing BMW B58 engine.

Best Car claims that a limited run of 200 GRMN Supras will be made, and reckons that father of the project Tetsuya Tada has claimed that BMW was initially reluctant to supply the powertrain to Toyota.

It also said that BMW had no plans to fit the engine to its Z4 roadster, which gels with the official line from Munich ruling out a Z4 M.

Given that the M3 and M4 will be offered with an all-wheel drive option, this gives BMW a level of performance superiority over any mooted GRMN Supra, even when fitted with the same powerplant.

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You only have to look at the numbers achieved with that engine in the BMW X4M to realise quite how quick an all-wheel drive M3/M4 will be.

We achieved a 0-100km/h time of 3.7 seconds, when hauling 1970kg of SUV along the strip. That's 0.3 seconds quicker than our colleagues across the aisle at MOTOR achieved in a 331kW M3 Pure. With the benefit of all-wheel drive, sub-3.5 seconds would easily be possible in an M3.

The report also alleges that the end of Supra production is slated for 2025 with no replacement in the works.

Our read? It'd be extremely unlikely were there not to be a GRMN edition of the Supra and Tada is a persuasive and determined man.

Nevertheless, it's worth bearing in mind that Best Car reported in January that we'd have a 294kW Supra GRMN this year and they were wrong then.

Sounds like we'll just have to wait and see.

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