Toyota may be famous for its Hilux that just wont die, the Corolla that just keeps soldiering on and some older legendary sports cars. As of the past few years, Toyota gained some irk from the car enthusiasts as they chopped the Toyota Supra, Toyota Celica and the Toyota MR-S. Then in 2011, Toyota, together with their partner Subaru, wowed the world with the Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ combo, a true homage to the legendary Toyota AE86. The car was a success, being cheap (not in Malaysia though) and was very fun to drive. The Toyota 86 is based on the Subaru BRZ, albeit with some cosmetic changes that set them apart.
However, the partnership between Subaru and Toyota ins’t a bed of roses though. News has surfaced that Toyota wants to chop Subaru off the partnership, due to Subaru’s reluctance to move forward with the project.
Subaru may have provided the technical know-how and the boxer expertise to develop the BRZ, but Toyota had the resources to make the project happen. The Toyota and Subaru partnership hit a snug when Subaru wasn’t keen at all to develop the successor of the BRZ. Naturally, with Subaru not wanting to move forward, Toyota’s 86 successor cannot materialize at all. If that is the case, Toyota will ditch Subaru, and partner with other manufacturers to develop the 86 successor. This will leave Subaru with no choice but to ax the Subaru BRZ.
Some months back, we did cover that Toyota was partnering with BMW to co-develop BMW’s next gen Z4, which will share its underpinnings with the resurrected Toyota Supra. Perhaps, Toyota could continue that partnership with BMW to develop the 86 successor. Tetsuya Tada, Chief Engineer at Toyota has mentioned that the next generation Toyota 86 will be a Toyota-BMW model and feature turbocharging.
