The rumour mill for the second-generation Toyota 86/Subaru BRZ twin has been picking up steam recently, which can only mean one thing – a launch is probably happening soon.
If this latest leak from seasoned car news scoop source Allcarnews turns out to be true, “soon” here means July 2021. The information was revealed through an Instagram post of a Toyota-branded launch timeline presentation slide, apparently taken from a US dealer briefing.
The accompanying caption of the post goes further into detail of the forthcoming sports car, which apparently will be named GR86 – as reported earlier.
The post also suggests that the Hachiroku twins will be built on a new platform, with a turbocharged engine powering 255 hp to the rear wheels – all of it seem to match up with our previous report on this matter.
If the leaks are indeed true, the new engine will give the 86 more than 50 hp of power boost; the relatively low 200 hp output was a sore point for many owners and fans of the original Toyobaru twin.
The new GR86 name will also position it to be more inline with the rest of Toyota’s new Gazoo Racing brand and products, which currently includes the Toyota GR Supra and the Toyota GR Yaris.
As much as we want to see the new car soon, we wouldn’t be at all surprised if the launch of the new Toyota 86 gets delayed to a further date, especially with the Coronavirus pandemic still causing disarray in the automotive manufacturing industry.
