Next-Gen Toyota Supra Won't Be A BMW Underneath: Report

The good news is that the gap won't be anywhere near the 20 years fans had to wait between the MkIV and MkV. But that's not all.

Due to the perennially low sales figures for sports cars in the past decade – only 2,615 Supras were sold in the U.S. in all of 2024 – Toyota teamed up with BMW to curb its spending on developing the MkV Supra. The car is based on the platform of BMW's latest Z4 and even uses an inline-six engine from BMW. A similar partnership is likely for the next Supra, but rumors suggest it won't be a BMW collab this time.

In its May 2025 issue, Japan's Best Car – a publication that should be taken with a grain mountain of salt – reported that the next Supra will be developed together with a model from Lexus. Citing an anonymous source, the magazine reported that the Lexus sports car will fill in for the RC coupe, which bows out after the 2025 model year, and the LC, which is getting long in the tooth. The stunning Lexus coupe was introduced for 2018.

Note, this is a separate model from the alleged Lexus LFA successor being developed alongside a Toyota GT3 race car and currently doing the rounds in camouflaged prototype form. This LFA successor, which is tipped to be called an LFR, is expected to debut later this year with a new electrified V8 powertrain.

The Supra/Lexus duo will be a smaller, more attainable model, if Best Car proves accurate. The Supra will reportedly be a strict two-seater, while the Lexus will be a 2+2. The powertrain would be the same for both cars – a new hybrid setup using the turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-4 that Toyota debuted at the 2025 Tokyo Auto Salon in a mid-engine GR Yaris concept. An inline-six, this time sourced from Mazda instead of BMW, is also being studied, per the rumors.

What makes the rumors a little hard to swallow is the alleged timing. According to Best Car, Toyota will launch a next-generation GR86 in 2026 and then follow it up that same year with the new Supra/Lexus. This would be in addition to the LFA successor, meaning four new sports cars from the Toyota and Lexus brands within the next 18 months.

If that weren't enough, Best Car also reported that the modern Celica – which Toyota has confirmed – will arrive as soon as 2027. Interestingly, the magazine claims that the new Celica will be developed using lessons learned from racing the mid-engine GR Yaris concept in Japan's Super Taikyu series, perhaps indicating that the new Celica will be a mid-engine model. This means there may be some substance to rumors of a modern MR2 – only the car may end up using the Celica name instead.

Further clues hinting at the development of a mid-engine sports car at Toyota include 2023's FT-Se concept, an electric sports car with the proportions of a mid-engine car. Toyota has indicated that the concept's design could also carry an ICE powertrain. Stay tuned.