The third chapter of what has turned out to be a very long saga came to an end tonight with the official presentation of the new 2013 Scion FR-S, which follows the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ introductions at the Tokyo Motor Show earlier today.

The name Scion chose for the North American version of the Toyota 86 stands for Front-engine, Rear-wheel drive, Sport. The 2+2 coupe is the fifth model to join the Scion family and will go on sale in the United States and Canada in the spring of 2012.

“Serving as a laboratory for Toyota, Scion is always experimenting with new things,” said Jack Hollis, Scion vice president. “The brand is iconic with the xB, adrenalized by the tC, and groundbreaking with the iQ. The FR-S will no doubt serve as the halo car, expanding Scion into a new dimension of driving performance,” he added.

When Scion impressed us with the sleek concept version of the FR-S at the New York Auto Show back in April, we had some slight hope that Toyota’s youth brand would follow a different road applying the same styling treatment to the production model.

Sadly, as you can see for yourselves, this didn’t happen with the FR-S being an identical twin to the Toyota 86. Makes you wonder why Scion even bothered showing us a different concept in New York in the first place…

Under the Toyota 86 body you’ll find the same mechanical hardware and layout you’ve obviously heard and read about so many times, including the Subaru-sourced 2.0-liter horizontally opposed engine with Toyota’s D-4S injection system that incorporates both direct and port injection.

The naturally-aspirated flat four churns out 200 ponies and 151 pound-feet of torque, and is linked to either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic transmission driving the rear wheels.

The FR-S will be offered with 17-inch alloy wheels and ventilated disc brakes on all four corners as standard.

At least in base trim, it appears that the FR-S won’t come with the “Start” button nor the cool aviation-style rocker switches under the a/c controls featured on the JDM Toyota 86 as well as the European Toyota GT 86 and the Subaru BRZ

We’ll no doubt hear and see more on the FR-S in the coming days/weeks, so stay tuned.

By John Halas

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