Only yesterday we
read a report that the Toyota 86 and Subaru BRZ ‘twins’ would not be replaced
once their life cycle comes to an end. The good thing with the World Wide Web is that you can get tonnes
and tonnes of information. The bad thing is that you can also get tonnes and
tonnes of misinformation. Oftentimes, it’s hard to distinguish between the two,
and even huge media outlets have, more than once, been duped.
After we talked to
Toyota yesterday about whether the 86 was going to be axed, and receiving an
immediate reply that this is totally false, we thought we ought to chat with
Subaru, too, and find out their plans about the BRZ.
This is indeed good
news for petrolheads who, due to dwindling demand (and sales), have little
choice when it comes to a fun to drive compact sports car. People might cry
‘badge engineering!’ and, for the most part, they are correct, but considering
the low sales volumes, as the sports car has also become a victim of SUVs, a
joint project is the only way to roll out such a model without losing money.
Kinno’s answer
might also hint that Toyota and Subaru will, once again, cooperate on the
replacements of their compact coupes. After all, the 86 is manufactured at
Subaru’s Gunma assembly plant alongside the BRZ, and it would not make sense
for any of the two automakers to develop the next-gen of their model alone.
Will they stick to
the flat-four engine? Probably. Will they use a revised version of the current platform?
Given the accolades it has amassed, that’s very likely. Will they, at last, fit
an engine with more than 200 HP, as their customers want? If the redesign
allows for its fitment without ruining the handling balance, we don’t see why
not.
