What's the news?
Here's our first clear look at the eagerly anticipated Toyota Supra sports car, revived after a 16-year hiatus by the Japanese giant. The Toyota GR Supra Racing Concept revealed at the Geneva Motor Show might be just that, a concept, but strip away the racing livery, massive rear wing and diffuser, and the stickers, and this is what the fifth-generation Toyota Supra will look like as a road car.
Front-engined and rear-wheel drive, Toyota says the Supra will be a 'fun-to-drive car that can deliver high performance both on road and track'. For the GR Supra Racing Concept, lightweight composite materials are used for the front and rear bumpers, the front splitter and rear diffuser, the side skirts, door mirror housings and that large rear wing - oh, and the bonnet with its louvred air vents, too. The windscreen and side windows are made of polycarbonate.
Beyond that, the Geneva concept version features lowered suspension, BBS racing wheels with a centre-lock fitting and Michelin competition tyres, Brembo brakes and a racing exhaust. Within, there's a proper motorsport cabin, with a track-focused dashboard with a racing display, an OMP driver's seat and safety harness, and a quick-release OMP steering wheel with paddle shifts. Carbon fibre lines the door cards, while a full rollcage, fire extinguishers and regulation-satisfying fuel lines, brake lines, pedal box, battery and wiring looms are all fitted.
It's tricky to look beyond all this motorsport dressing on the GR Supra Racing Concept but, if you can, you can see what the 2019 sports car will look like. Further, the whole liveried show car does not mean Toyota has yet confirmed it will compete in international motorsport with the Supra once it becomes a showroom reality, although the GR bit of the concept's name relates to Gazoo Racing - the team behind Toyota's competition efforts and also the outfit which created the Yaris GRMN.
Further, Toyota and Lexus have previous form in releasing production cars in the wake of racing versions displayed at motor shows - the last time this happened was with the C-HR Racing at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, which went on to become Toyota's angular C-segment crossover.
Anything else?
That '90' sticker on the side of the GR Racing Concept is not just random; in fact, it's highly significant. Now, we apologise - we're going to have to be a bit boring and 'car-codey' for a second. In the first span of the Supra's life, from 1978 to 2002, each of the generations was known both internally and by fans by a specific code: A40 was the first generation, A60 the second, A70 the third and A80 the fourth. So the '90' on the Geneva show car confirms that the Mk5 will be the A90.