Will Toyota’s New Sports Car Take Aim At The Chevrolet Camaro?
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The internet has lately been ablaze with rumors about Toyota’s upcoming sports car, which the industry and fans alike have dubbed a reborn Supra. While we have zero confirmation on its specs, or even if it will be called “Supra”, it could spell trouble for the Chevrolet Camaro.
We say this because the sixth-generation Chevrolet Camaro has certainly positioned itself as a much more refined and premium offering. Hell, we don’t even like to call the Camaro a “pony car” anymore. We wholeheartedly believe it’s a modern sports car.
This wasn’t the case in, let’s say, 1997. A 1997 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 cost $25,520, while the cheapest 1997 Toyota Supra cost $34,000. The two cars could certainly be cross-shopped, but the Supra certainly fetched a premium.
Fast forward to present day and you can’t touch a 2017 Chevrolet Camaro SS under $35,000 when simply looking at the MSRP. While we don’t know where Toyota will price its inbound hero vehicle, it’s likely Toyota will offer yet another choice in a cramped market of really damn good sports cars.
Of course, Camaro buyers will be Camaro buyers. But there will always be a portion of consumers that may be swayed one way or another. Especially if rumors regarding the return of the inline-six cylinder engine come to fruition in a modern day Supra.
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Competition breeds better products. Bring it Toyota. That said, the current alpha Camaro is ridiculously good. Toyota better bring something serious to the table. The Supra never sold in big numbers, and if a new one debuts in the Mustang and Camaro’s current price range and isn’t leaps and bounds better; it will be one of the shortest comebacks in history.
True. The Camaro is as good as it is because GM is targeting benchmark performance cars like the iconic BMW M4 by tearing up the Nürburgring.
However, the Camaro, despite endless articles hyping its performance and fun factor, is a meh seller. Meanwhile the far better selling Mustang is upping its game by speeding up the release of their 7th generation model by 2 years to better compete with the Camaro on the track.
So Camaro is facing a double whammy of ‘Supra’ and Mustang in the next couple of years. Pricing is critical for the players as GM’s price hike combined with a determination to keep atp high has proved at some point people just say “enough”. Into the second model year and I literally can count on 1 hand the number of new Camaros I’ve seen in the wild in my metropolitan area approaching 1 million population. Sad.
The first 2017 Camaro 2SS I looked at, a 50th anniversary convertible, is still sitting on the dealer’s lot with CarGurus saying it’s stagnated there for 163 days. It’s so overpriced I gave up on Camaros and started looking at used or base C7 ‘Vettes.
My FR-S weighs 2900lbs, it’s weedy little 151lb-ft barely keeping up with mom’s minivan. I challenge this supercharged 6.2 double-ton Camaro to real driving in any roads around Lake Tahoe.
Can’t tell if you’re being facetious, or I dunno…
Either way the 6th gen does not weigh 2 tons. The SS is also a better driving car than the BMW M4 according to the car rags, so I have no doubt it will chase and eat a GT86 with the same ferocity and agility cat exhibits in the wild.
The only place you might have a chance against a 4 cylinder Camaro is on a go-cart track.
The issue is both cars appeal to a very die hard following that seldom cross over American brands let alone Asian.
I am sure they will have a good car but all of the are struggling now due to slow coupe sales. Not a good time to re enter the segment.
Toyota will have a following but few will come from Ford or Chevy.
Well for right now we have no idea on what the “Supra” will look like. I do hope that they don’t make the same mistake as their FRS though in terms of styling wise.
whats wrong with frs styling? it looks good!!!
The concept of the FRS looks good, but not the production one since it looks pretty boring to me. I just feel like they would do the same with the Supra… looks good for concept, but production car just meh
Supra has always been positioned as a Corvette competitor.
It has never been a Corvette competitor.
The first Celicas were a cheap copy of a 65-67 Mustang and then Supra became a trim package for the Celica. In later generations, the Supra grew to be almost identical in dimensions to the Camaro. And then the last generation went turbo while trying to be a bit more upscale and they didn’t sell and were discontinued.
I’m not saying it was a bad car but it competed in the segment which is specialty sports coupe which are always 2 + 2 seating like the Camaro, Mustang and others.
Never, ever has the Supra even attempted to be a direct Corvette competitor. That is just plain wrong.
It has never been a Corvette competitor.
The first Celicas were a cheap copy of a 65-67 Mustang and then Supra became a trim package for the Celica. In later generations, the Supra grew to be almost identical in dimensions to the Camaro. And then the last generation went turbo while trying to be a bit more upscale and they didn’t sell and were discontinued.
I’m not saying it was a bad car but it competed in the segment which is specialty sports coupe which are always 2 + 2 seating like the Camaro, Mustang and others.
Never, ever has the Supra even attempted to be a direct Corvette competitor. That is just plain wrong.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Perf_pack_for_wiki.jpg
I’m a long time Supra guy. The Supra was never marketed as a Camaro/Mustang alternative. I’m not talking about the Celica Supra versions (I had one of those), but the stand alone model that debut in ’86. The price was similar to a Corvette, especially the turbo when it came out in ’87. I have most of the marketing for the Supra from that era and it was positioned as the grown up sport gt alternative. Camaro/Trans-Am/Mustang were muscle cars. Even in reviews the ’88-90’s Supra was pitted against the Porsche 928 and Corvette routinely.
Marketing can try to shift perceptions but may have little to do with reality. Lee Iacocca had a commercial which compared the K Car against the Mercedes E class and it ended with the line “If you can find a better car, buy it!” Magazines have all kinds of mash-ups which are simply intended for entertainment purposes. The true classification of the Corvette is a 2 seat sports car and the Supra was never more than GT in the later years due to size and weight. I’m a Porsche owner and this is the first time I have ever heard 928 and Supra in the same sentence.
It’s not uncommon for long-time fans of a brand or vehicle to have an elevated perception of said vehicle. I know several air cooled 911 fanatics who think that their car is as good as the 911 ever got… and all others have been bastardized. To each their own but I prefer to stick to facts and reality.
The new Supra (if announced) may go upscale but so has the Camaro with the ZL-1 and upcoming Z-28, so it will continue to compete with the Camaro. The C8 will further distance itself in the supercar category.
Few cars could go head to head with the Vette. 2 seats limit sales globally.
The Supra has tried to bridge the gap with 2 extra seats.
They have tried to be a sports car but a practical one like a gt.
The RX8 did the same thing.
You can not pencil cars like this into a single box.
The last Supra was definitely a Corvette competitor, similar price to an LT1 but better performance. The Corvette was in many comparison test against the RX-7, 300ZX, and Supra.
I don’t see Toyota targeting the Muscle car people, more likely target the Corvette crowd and other super cars. I actually laughed when I read the title of this article.
Considering that nowadays there’s no such thing as “muscle car people”, or “muscle cars” they most definitely will be targeting them. If the Supra is anything like it’s predecessor, it will be in direct competition with the SS, 1LE, ZL1, Z28 AND Track pack GTs and the Shelby GT350. Heck it will be hunting or be hunted by Challenger SRTs, 392s, Scat packs, and Hell Cats.
The Supra never had some type of high class pedigree associated with it. It was simply fast. And Fast competes with EVERYONE.