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#ambiguity
According to Tetsuya Tada, the Supra will differ from the Z4 in that the Supra is intended to be a “pure sports car.” Toyota is aware that there is a “huge fan base for previous Supras,” and they’ve interviewed this fan base to get an understanding of their expectations of the new Supra before starting the project.
In a separate interview, Tada said that, “a manual doesn’t seem important (paraphrased).” Again, I find this hard to believe if the statement was based on the same fan base Toyota used to outline the expectations of the new Supra (What did they use? The same market research group for the RCF?).
Toyota expects buyers of the new Supra to modify their cars similarly to the GT86. In fact, a few engineers used to develop the GT86 are working on the new Supra. Toyota is trying to convey the same message with the Supra as they did with the GT86: tuner culture, pure sports car experience.
So I guess if Toyota’s target market is from the GT86 crowd (I understand there’s a big price difference), I’m not sure why a manual option remains a mystery. Two sources I’ve seen say the take rate for a manual GT86/FRS/BRZ (whatever) is anywhere from 40 to 55%. Yet “a manual option doesn’t seem important to prospective buyers,” in reference to the older Supra fan base and GT86 buyers.
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