Toyota Supra History

Sports car · 1978–present

Toyota's iconic inline-six grand tourer — a tuner and motorsport legend, defined by the A80's 2JZ.

Photo: “1979 Toyota Celica Supra Mk I Coupe (23155184553)” by Sicnag / Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0. Cropped to 16:9.

History

Launched for 1979 as the six-cylinder 'Celica Supra', the Supra grew into a standalone performance icon defined by its inline-six engines.

The fourth-generation A80 and its twin-turbo 2JZ-GTE became a tuning legend; after a roughly 17-year hiatus the nameplate returned for 2020 as the BMW-co-developed A90 GR Supra.

Generations

First generation · Celica Supra (A40/A50)
1979–1981
Launched as a longer, six-cylinder version of the Celica — the 'Celica Supra' — pairing the Celica's body with an inline-six and a stretched nose.
Second generation · Celica Supra (A60)
1982–1986
Redesigned Celica Supra with pop-up headlights and a twin-cam inline-six; the performance and L-type luxury split widened. The final US A60 year was 1986 — A70 production delays kept the 1985 P-type on sale into 1986.
Third generation · A70
1986–1992
The Supra split from the Celica into a standalone model on the A70 platform, offered with a turbocharged 7M-GTE inline-six. The final US A70 was a 1992 model — there was no 1993 A70 in North America (the A80 took over for 1993).
Fourth generation · A80 (Mk IV)
1993–1998
The legendary A80 — the twin-turbo 2JZ-GTE made it a tuning icon. The US version's twin-turbo six was rated 320 hp; the last US-market A80 was a 1998 model.
Fifth generation · A90 / J29 (GR Supra)
2020–present
The GR Supra revival, co-developed with BMW on the platform shared with the Z4 (G29) and built in Austria; offered with a BMW-sourced turbo 2.0 four (B48) or turbo 3.0 inline-six (B58).

Famous Supra variants

The nameplates that define the Supra — each with its own cross-year history, engines, production, and collectibility.

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Toyota Supra Coupe

Related models

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Find a scale model of the Toyota Supra

Search Amazon across available years, colors, and scales. Exact releases vary, so confirm the listing before ordering.

← All Toyota models

First generation · Celica Supra (A40/A50)

Second generation · Celica Supra (A60)

Third generation · A70

Fourth generation · A80 (Mk IV)

Fifth generation · A90 / J29 (GR Supra)