An interesting interview with Tada-san on the Supra came out today in Jalopnik. Once of the best tidbits released had nothing to do with the Supra, but the 86:
Quote:
“Aside from the Supra, there aren’t too many cars in existence now where a inline-six would better than the engines we’ve already built,” he said. “In the past lots of automakers had straight sixes. You should know exactly why” there are fewer of them these days, he said. “It’s a very difficult engine to package. You lose space for the driver and the passenger.”
Tada said he was similarly “bombarded” when the Toyota 86 and its twin the Subaru BRZ came out. Fans wondered why a Toyota sports car should use a Subaru Boxer engine. But the answer was the same, he said.
“Everyone thinks it was for a low center of gravity, but that’s not true,” he said. “We always wanted (the 86) to be a 2+2. And Boxer engines are very short,” ideal for such an application.
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There was also quite a bit of discussion as to why it was a joint venture. Tada theorizes that if it was a purely Toyota car, it would've taken 2+ more years, a new factory and have a price tag over $100,000. Of course, to those who know the industry, this is no surprise.
https://jalopnik.com/why-the-2020-to...why-1834540861