Toyota has officially announced that they will continue to produce their GT86 and the car will go on sale either in 2018 or in 2019. The second-generation GT86 will most probably come out without a soft-top version of this sports car.
The engine under the hood of the Toyota GT86 currently produces 197 bhp, and it is a great car to drive. Unfortunately, although the sales at the beginning were high, as the time passed by, there was a significant drop, like it is usual for all sports vehicles.
Karl Schlicht, Toyota Europe boss, said: “The GT86 is at the stage where it’s being decided on the next one. Then a chief engineer will be assigned and away we go. The GT86 will carry on. The car serves a big purpose. We are not getting out of that business. Sporty cars go through their phases. It’s our intention to continue with that car.”
On Toyota’s relationship with Subaru, Schlicht stated: “Will it be with Subaru? I don’t know. But for the concept to carry on, with the low engine, we’d have to do that. There are a lot of reasons to continue with Subaru.”
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Schlicht also talked about a soft-top version and the next-generation will probably not have one. He said: “We wouldn’t do it on the current model. That doesn’t mean dealers wouldn’t like one, but there are so many other priorities that I don’t think we’ve got spare capacity for that.”
The new Toyota GT86 will be placed under the redesigned Toyota Supra, we know that the Japanese carmaker is also developing a new larger coupe with BMW, which will come as a replacement for the Z4 roadster in the Germans lineup and hopefully as a worthy successor of the iconic Supra. Schlicht said: “That co-operation is going well. It’s on track. It’s being done in Europe. Our version is a different car from BMW’s.”
