Goodbye straight-six, hello hybrid: Toyota to leave BMW for next-gen 2027 Toyota Supra sports car that is expected to score turbo-petrol hybrid power joining new Celica, GR86, GR Corolla and more: Report

Toyota’s flagship sports car is gearing up to drop a pair of cylinders and its BMW roots come the next generation. 

That’s according to BestCar, known for its well-placed insider sources in key Japanese carmakers including Toyota. 

The current Supra went on sale in 2019 and is expected to be replaced come 2027. The Supra was rumoured to be going all-electric, but it appears the coupe will either get hybrid propulsion alongside, or instead of, battery-electric. 

It is the hybrid powertrain that’s got us excited, though, with reports pointing to Toyota’s new downsized four-cylinder turbo-petrol engine sitting under the bonnet. 

Toyota announced the new engine line-up in May at its Multi-Pathway workshop. It is widely expected that these new engines will power everything from updated family SUVs such as the RAV4, all the way up to flagships sports cars, the reborn Celica and revised Supra. 

The 2.0-litre turbo will come in two trims, with the more powerful (mooted for the Supra) developing 294kW and 500Nm, an uplift over the current Supra’s 285kW/500Nm 3.0-litre ’six. 

Expect it to be teamed with a parallel hybrid system, similar to the one seen in Toyota’s i-Force Max hybrids sold in North America. Instead of a separate electric motor, it is located between the engine and eight- or potentially 10-speed automatic transmission, meaning the new Supra should be able to run on petrol-power alone with real gear shifts. 

It sounds like a similar solution to the one Mazda is going to roll out for the production version of its Iconic SP sports car concept. 

BestCar has created render images of the future Supra, leaning on the proportions of the existing 'A90' model but with big changes to front and rear clips that give it a more modern look.

The new Supra is reported to be a Toyota-only project, leaving BMW and its Z4 behind. Toyota recently took over the lead in its smaller GR86/BRZ sports car project with Subaru.

For BMW, the Z4 is a niche vehicle, finding only 81 homes so far this year in Australia, while Lotus has sold 126 Emiras and Toyota 213 Supras. 

There is no official confirmation of the Supra’s next generation from Japan or Australia yet, however, the company recently pledged the sports car to Australia’s premier racing series, Supercars, beginning in 2026.