It's the little rear-wheel drive car that was built to bring the thrill of driving back to the driver's seat, and while some have complained about the Toyota 86' lack of power, it has garnered quite the following around the world.
Built as a homage to the little AE86 that has since shot to legendary status, mostly thanks to the anime Initial D, the 86 is set to get another go at the market, and Toyota is making it out to be a serious machine.
Recently, Toyota chief engineer Tetsuya Tada spoke to Whichcar about the new 86' development, and revealed some pretty high hopes for the little coupe.
"We have to make a new 86 that surpasses the Supra… that is what the customer expects," he said.
Considering that the 2020 Supra packs a serious 3.0-litre turbocharged BMW-sourced power plant, we can't imagine that Tada is talking about performance here, but about the driving experience as a whole.
While Tada was more than happy to talk about the development process of the new 86, when asked about the specific details, he remained tight-lipped.
Just last week, news of the next 86 being turbocharged was leaked by a Japanese magazine, who mentioned that the car was set to make its debut at the Tokyo Motor Show next month.
According to this leak, the updated coupe will be powered by a turbocharged 2.4-litre four-cylinder engine which is currently found in the Subaru Ascent. Potential power is unknown, but any increase over the current 152kW would be a welcome change.
The 86 and BRZ have sat on the Subaru Impreza platform since launch, but this is another aspect that's set to be changed with the new generation. Subaru's new platform isn't able to be converted to a rear-wheel drive layout, so both Toyota's and Mazda's RWD platforms are on the table.
Considering the 86 has just recently benefitted from the Hakone and the TRD Handling Package, news of the next-generation car looming is quite a surprise, but makes perfect sense.
Who knows if we're going to be seeing this new car next month or not, either way, there's going to be a lot of attention at Toyota's stand.