New Toyota Supra Will Reportedly Be Sold With A Dual-Clutch Transmission Only

The eagerly awaited Toyota Supra is expected to be a true sports car, though it may be sold exclusively with a dual-clutch transmission, if a new report that came to light proves accurate.

Toyota presented the Supra Racing Concept at the Geneva Motor Show as a teaser to the production model. While attending the event, Japanese publication Info Seek, as cited by SupraMKV, discussed the car with Toyota’s chief engineer Tetsuya Tada and were told about Toyota’s racing ambitions and the brand’s thoughts of offering a manual gearbox.

Asked directly if a manual transmission is on the cards, Tada replied that “at the moment, it is not; it is just a dual-clutch transmission”.

He then explained that the next Supra may have too much power to make a manual gearbox viable. He also said that once customers get a taste of the dual-clutch transmission being developed, they’ll no longer yearn for a stick-shift.

Read: Everything we know, from rumors to scoops and videos, about the 2019 Toyota Supra

As for why Toyota decided to preview the road car with the audacious Racing Concept, Tada said the automaker intends on racing the new Supra in the GTE class.

“The next Supra has been developed with the aim of making it a racing car from the beginning… By the way, the next Supra is aiming to be consistent with the ‘LM GTE’ class which is the racing car regulation of the [Le Mans] endurance race.”

It is no secret that the new Supra is being developed alongside BMW‘s replacement to the Z4. As such, the two will share a common platform. The duo will utilize different powertrains, however, and the Supra will reportedly get a 3.0-liter turbo-six delivering 335 hp and 332 lb-ft of torque that should be enough for a 0-62 mph (0-100 km/h) sprint in less than four seconds.