Great news overnight for those who love fun, affordable, rear-wheel drive silliness.
Matt Harrison, senior executive at Toyota, has confirmed in an interview that a second-generation Toyota 86 — and byproxy a second-generation Subaru BRZ — are in the pipeline.
Harrison announced the news while speaking to Autocar UK, adding that the Toyota 86's role "is not one particularly about volume globally. It’s about adding excitement to the brand and emotional appeal.
“The GT86 has definitely been successful for us in achieving that, particularly in markets like the UK.”
There had been fears that the 'Toybaru twins' were on the chopping block, following the reveal of the next-generation Toyota Supra.
In particular, the surprise four-cylinder base model Supra — with power and torque figures of 145kW and 320Nm respectively — appeared to near equal the outputs of the 86. It appeared that the popular platform had been gazumped, and that added fuel to the rumour-mill fire.
However, Harrison doesn't see the Supra as a replacement or rival for the 86.
“Supra is not to replace that car [the 86]. They are for different audiences and are different products. We see a situation where they will sit alongside each other.”
Before the speculation that its death was imminent, there had been reports that the 86 and BRZ could gain larger 2.4-litre engines in their second-generations. Harrison said that it would be a "safe assumption" that the engine would be a Subaru-sourced unit (likely of the flat-four boxer variety), but didn't go further.
It's yet to be revealed exactly when the new models will be coming. But rumours suggest that 2021 could be likely. We can't wait.