is a sports car and grand tourer manufactured and developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation beginning in 1978. The name "supra" is taken from the Latin prefix meaning "above", "to surpass" or "go beyond".
The initial four generations of the Supra were produced from 1978 to 2002. The fifth generation has been produced since March 2019 and later went on sale in May 2019. The styling of the original Supra was derived from the Toyota Celica, but it was longer. Starting in mid-1986, the A70 Supra became a separate model from the Celica. In turn, Toyota also stopped using the prefix Celica and named the car Supra. Owing to the similarity and past of the Celica's name, it is frequently mistaken for the Supra, and vice versa. The first, second and third generations of the Supra were assembled at the Tahara plant in Tahara, Aichi, while the fourth generation was assembled at the Motomachi plant in Toyota City. The 5th generation of the Supra is assembled alongside the G29 BMW Z4 in Graz, Austria by Magna Steyr.
The Supra traces much of its roots back to the 2000GT owing to an inline-6 layout. The first three generations were offered with a direct descendant to the Crown's and 2000GT's M engine. Interior aspects were also similar, as was the chassis code "A". Along with this name, Toyota also included its own logo for the Supra. It was derived from the original Celica logo, being blue instead of orange. This logo was used until January 1986, when the A70 Supra was introduced. The new logo was similar in size, with orange writing on a red background, but without the dragon design. That logo, in turn, was on Supras until 1991 when Toyota switched to its current oval company logo. The dragon logo was a Celica logo regardless of what colour it was. It appeared on the first two generations of the Supra because they were officially Toyota Celicas. The dragon logo was used for the Celica line until it was also discontinued.
In 1998, Toyota ceased sales of the fourth-generation Supra in the United States. Production of the fourth-generation Supra for worldwide markets ended in 2002. In January 2019, the fifth-generation Supra, which was co-developed with the G29 BMW Z4, was introduced.
Production of the GR Supra ended in March 2026.
First generation (A40/A50; 1978)
The first generation of the Supra was based largely upon the Toyota Celica liftback, but was longer by . The doors and rear section were shared with the Celica but the front panels were elongated to accommodate the Inline-6 instead of the Celica's 4-cylinder engine. Toyota created the Celica Supra after receiving requests from North American dealerships to offer a competitor to the very popular Datsun 280Z. The Celica XX (in Japanese) served as the basis of the Toyota CAL-1 which was introduced at the 1977 Tokyo Motor Show and the Celica XX was introduced later in 1978. The Celica XX followed a new product offering Toyota had introduced, offering personal luxury cars at their existing dealerships. The Celica XX was the top-level product alongside the Celica at Japanese dealership sales channels called Toyota Corolla Store. The Celica XX offered the same comforts of the Chaser hardtop coupe, Mark II hardtop coupe, and the Crown hardtop coupe.
Celica XX
The Celica XX (pronounced "double X") is the Japanese market name of the first generation Celica Supra. It was available with two straight-six engines and five trim packages, beginning with the 2600G, 2600S, 2000G, 2000S and the entry-level 2000L. Six exterior body colours were offered, while cloth upholstery patterns were specific to the trim package in burgundy, brown or dark blue. Leather was offered in brown and only on the "G" trim package. Aluminium alloy wheels were only offered on the "G" trim package. Power windows with driver-side express down, cruise control, power steering, AM/FM Stereo with a separate cassette player, and rear split folding seats were all standard. A parking brake handle was now located in the centre console.
Wipers were two-speed with an intermittent wipe and a rear wiper with electric defrost was included.
Yearly Changes 1978 The Supra was offered with a 2.0 L 12-valve SOHC inline-six engine (M-EU, chassis code MA45) or the 2.6-litre 12-valve SOHC inline-six engine (4M-E, chassis code MA46). The Japanese model was also available with the smaller 2.0 L engine, so buyers choose which yearly tax they were willing to pay according to vehicle size and engine displacement regulations. Both engines were equipped with electronic fuel injection. The installation of the larger engine did obligate Japanese buyers to pay a higher annual road tax, making owning the car more expensive than the smaller Celica.
The Supra was first exported outside Japan in January 1979. The federalized model was originally equipped with a 2.6-litre 12-valve SOHC inline-6 engine.
Transmission options for the model were either a 5-speed manual (W50) or an optional 4-speed automatic transmission (A40D). Both transmissions featured an overdrive gear. The top gear in the 5-speed was its overdrive gear whereas the automatic transmission featured an overdrive gear that would engage at speeds over . The drivetrain for the Supra retained the T series solid rear axle configuration of the Celica in the Japanese MA45 version and a larger F series (and optional limited-slip differential) in the MA46 and MA47. The car also came standard with 4-wheel disc brakes and featured a four-link rear suspension with coil springs, lateral track bar, and stabilizer bar. The front suspension consisted of MacPherson struts and a stabilizer bar.
The interior of the Supra had optional power windows and power locks as part of the convenience package. The convenience package also included cruise control and special door trim with door pull straps with an optional sunroof. As for standard features, in the centre console there was an extendable map light and a flip-top armrest, which provided storage. Some other features were the tilt steering wheel, deep zippered pockets on the backs of the front seats, and a tonneau cover under the liftback. The dashboard also contained a state of the art AM/FM/MPX 4-speaker stereo radio, analog clock, and tachometer as part of the instrument panel.
1979 The mid-1979 changes for the 1980 model year US model were mostly cosmetic. The interior received a redesigned centre console and a digital quartz clock. On the exterior were redesigned side view mirrors and 14x5 inch aluminium wheels were standard (the previous year had steel wheels with plastic wheel covers as standard and the aluminium wheels were optional). In addition, body molded mudflaps became available. On cars finished in copper metallic and white, the mudflaps were painted the body colour while the mudflaps were left black on all other colours. On the rear of the mudflaps, the word "Celica" was painted in white lettering.
The official Supra site also notes that there was an addition of optional leather-trimmed seating and automatic climate-control.
1980
In August 1980 (for the 1981 model year), the Supra received an upgrade in displacement with the 2.8-litre 5M-E engine shared with the Crown (S110). It was still a 12-valve SOHC engine, but had a power output of and of torque. The car's automatic transmission was changed to the revised Toyota A43D and it gained a revised final drive gearing. Because of the change in engine and transmission a new chassis code of MA47 was given to the 1981 model. Performance figures for this model include a 0–60 mph (97 km/h) acceleration time of 10.24 seconds and a 1/4-mile time of 17.5 seconds at a speed of .
Also in 1980 (for the 1981 model year), a new Sports Performance Package became an option, which included sport suspension, raised white letter tyres, and front and rear spoilers. This also marked the last year that an 8-track tape player was offered in any Supra.
Powertrain CodeYearEnginePowerTorqueTransmissionMarketMA45Apr 1978 – Aug 1980 M-EU I65-speed W50 manual4-speed A40D automaticJapanMA55Aug 1980 – Jul 1981JapanMA46Apr 1978 – Aug 1980 4M-E I6JapanJan 1979 – Aug 1980North AmericaMA47Aug 1980 – Jul 1981 5M-E I65-speed W50 manual4-speed A43D automaticworldMA56Japan
Second generation (A60; 1981)
In mid-1981, Toyota completely redesigned the Celica Supra as well as the entire Celica lineup for the 1982 model year. In Japan, the Celica XX name continued, and the Celica Supra name continued internationally. Still based on the Celica platform, there were several key differences, most notably the design of the front end and fully retractable pop-up headlights. Other differences were the inline-six rather than four-cylinder engine, as well as an increase in length and wheelbase to accommodate the larger engine. In the home market, cars fitted with the 5M engine were slightly wider, while the 2-litre models remained compliant with the Japanese width regulations, staying under . The front suspension used MacPherson struts while the rear used a semi-trailing link design with an attachment at the rear differential.
The Celica XX introduced the world's first navigation computer.
In February 1981, Japanese buyers were offered an alternative to the Celica XX liftback bodystyle, called the Soarer coupé, which was now offered at two Japanese Toyota dealership networks called Toyota Store, and Toyopet Store, as the Celica XX was sold at the Toyota Corolla Store. The four-door performance saloon called the Celica Camry was realigned with the Japanese market Carina, and the Chaser performance sedan shared the Celica XX straight six, while in North America the Cressida took on that role.
L-type and P-type In the North American market, the Celica Supra was available in two distinct models. There was the "Performance Type" (P-type) and the "Luxury Type" (L-type). While being mechanically identical, they were differentiated by the available options; tyre size, wheel size, and body trim. The P-type had fibreglass fender flares over the wheel wells, while the L-type did not. The P-type was also standard with the more sporty eight-way adjustable seats. The P-type did not get the option of a leather interior until 1983. Initially, the Luxury type meant Automatic transmission, and Performance Type stood for Manual. All editions of the P-type had the same 14x7-inch aluminium alloy wheels and throughout the years the L-type had 14x5.5-inch wheels until 1985 when they were changed to a P-type styled 15x6. The L-type also had the option of a digital instrument cluster with a trip computer; some Canadian models (both L-types and P-types) had this option as well as a few rare instances of American models. The L-type cluster was easily distinguished from the P-type cluster, by the 'ECT' function written on the dial plate. The digital cluster featured a digital tachometer, digital speedometer, and electronic fuel level and coolant level gauges. The trip computer could calculate and display various things such as fuel economy in miles-per-gallon, estimated time of arrival (ETA), and distance remaining to destination. Supras with trip computers also came with cruise control. Excluding the 1982 model, all P-types were available with headlight washers as an option, but the L-types were never given such an option. Although gear ratios changed throughout the years, all P-types came standard with a limited-slip differential.
1981
In 1981, for the 1982 model year, in the North American market, the Celica Supra's engine was the 2.8-litre 12-valve (two valves per cylinder) DOHC 5M-GE. Power output was SAE net and of torque. The engine used an 8.8:1 compression ratio to achieve the power and featured a vacuum advanced distributor. When the car debuted, it had a , a acceleration time of 9.8 seconds and a time of 17.2-seconds at .