Next Subaru BRZ, Toyota 86 Could Get Minor Power Bump, But No Turbo

Subaru will allegedly stop taking orders for the BRZ in Japan on July 20, 2020, according to a report from Japanese publication Best Car after confirming the info with the automaker's press relation's department in the country. The Tokyo Subaru dealer body also published this date for the end of orders on its BRZ site.

The next-gen BRZ (and presumably its Toyota 86 sibling) will arrive at the earliest in March 2021, but the coronavirus outbreak will possibly force the timing to be later than that. They will ride on a modified version of the current chassis, according to Best Car, despite previous rumors of a switch to the Toyota TGNA platform.

The BRZ and 86 will allegedly use a naturally aspirated version of the Subaru FA24 2.4-liter flat-four engine. It will purportedly make 217 horsepower (162 kilowatts) and 177 pound-feet (240 Newton-meters) of torque. In comparison, the existing 2.0-liter flat-four powerplant has 205 hp (152 kW) and 156 lb-ft (211 Nm) of torque (or 151 lb-ft with the automatic gearbox).

The six-speed manual gearbox will reportedly carry over to the new models, but there will be a new automatic transmission with an emphasis on performing well in a sporty vehicle. According to Best Car, automatics are increasingly popular around the world, especially in North America, and the companies want to cater the vehicle to this segment of the market.

Subaru and Toyota announced in September 2019 that they were collaborating on the next-gen BRZ/86. They didn't offer any specifics at that time. As further evidence of the models' imminent demise, Subaru launched the Final Edition 86 in Germany as the last special model before the vehicle's retirement.