Jan. 4, 2020, 7:30 a.m.
The December 2019 and year-end sales data was made public by Toyota Motor North America. 2,383,349 automobiles in total were sold by the Japanese manufacturer. Despite the result, the brand’s sales decreased by 1.8 percent when compared to 2018’s figures on both a volume and daily selling rate basis.
This sales total included the Supra, the brand’s flagship vehicle. In 2019, Toyota sold 2,884 units of the two-seat sports coupe. With 3,398 units sold, the 86, another Toyota sports vehicle, outperformed the Supra in sales. However, in December of the same year, 404 Supra units were sold as opposed to 276 for the 86.
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Gallery: 2020 Toyota Supra: First Drive
It’s also noteworthy that sales of Toyota vehicles have decreased in 2019 compared to their total in 2018. Sales of Toyota products, with the exception of the Corolla, have decreased by 4%. Sales of the tiny car have increased by 0.4 percent in 2019, with the hatchback model having the highest year ever with a 5.2 percent gain.
In contrast, large Toyota SUVs did well in sales in 2019, totaling 882,162 units compared to 875,372 units in 2018. The RAV4 took the lead in this, recording its best-ever year in sales with an increase of 4.9 percent. Sales of the RAV4 Hybrid increased by 92.3 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year.
In 2020, how many Supras were there?
The year has been turbulent since 2020 came to a close. As manufacturers, dealers, and nations shut down to stop the virus’s spread in March, the coronavirus pandemic rocked the automotive industry. With a faltering and uneven rebound, new car sales also suffered a significant knock, dooming Toyota to a year of losses for all but one modelthe Supra.
The automaker’s year-over-year sales decreased by 11.9% in 2020 when compared to 20191.84 million versus 2.08 million. The Toyota Camry missed the 300,000 mark in sales for the first time since 1993, selling 294,348 sedans, a 12.2 percent decrease from 2019. Even the age-old Corolla had a 22.7 percent decline in sales. Although less so, sales of Toyota’s trucks decreased by a combined 3.5 percent for the Tundra and Tacoma.
Toyota’s sales surprise for 2020 was the Supra, whose sales increased artificially by 104.1 percent over 2019. Yes, the carmaker sold 2,884 coupes in 2019 versus 5,887 in 2018. However, sales of the sporty coupe began in July 2019, making 2020 the Supra’s first full year of sales. Sales of Supra slowed down in March and April 2020, but they immediately picked up throughout the summer. The model ended 2020 with consecutive months of 700 or more sales in both November and December.
Are sales of the new Supra strong?
Even for well-known automakers like Toyota, reviving a historical brand is not a simple feat. When Toyota announced the comeback of the Supra moniker in the 2010s, the automotive industry was surprised. Toyota later unveiled their concept car, the FT-1, in 2014, to a warm response from fans and media who had been eagerly awaiting the return of the renowned brand. The long-awaited Supra was then finally debuted by Toyota in 2019 at the Detroit Auto Show. The audience wasn’t happy because of the exceedingly poor reviews from both fans and media. How can Toyota, one of the biggest automakers, fall short of expectations when it is recognized for building dependable and some of the most recognizable sports cars? In this blog post, we learn the rationale.
In 1978, the Supra brand was established. The name is derived from a Latin prefix that means “above” or “go beyond.” It began as a reliable, enjoyable, and reasonably priced sports vehicle. The popularity of the Supra name peaked in the late 1990s, when the vehicle itself appeared as a hero car in The Fast and the Furious in 2001. It earned a sizable cult following and will be considered as a future classic by both fans and reviewers due to its distinctive appearance and bulletproof 2JZ engine, which can handle up to 1000 horses. However, the 4th generation Supra’s global production ceased in 2002, forcing aficionados to wait another 18 years for the next model.
Shortly after the automobile was introduced, irate auto fans vented their resentment online and on social media. It’s a BMW Z4 that has been given a new exterior. Several of the rare unfavorable remarks on the automobile itself included statements like “This car is NOT worthy of the Supra brand! Why then are there complaints instead of compliments, especially from ardent fans? The explanation is straightforward: Toyota failed to deliver and had a poor worldwide marketing strategy.
This Toyota UK 30-second commercial is a good example of poor marketing since the company believed it could deceive consumers, especially auto fanatics. “Listen to its iconic 3 liter inline six cylinder engine,” the caption adds. The engine itself is straight out of the BMW Z4 (make no mistake, BMW produces some of the finest engines for its road cars, but to put it on a Supra is just pure sacrilege), and is not built from the same heritage as Toyota’s legendary in-house 2JZ engine, so it seems the engine itself isn’t legendary after all. It appears that the marketing division doesn’t care about the Supra tradition and chose to ruin it by acting foolish and deceiving the supporters, particularly the younger generation.
As was already established, the Supra name is intended to express the feeling of being a cut above the rest. The issue is that there is nothing that is “Supra for the new Supra,” and the new Supra cannot even compare to the prior generation. A significant cautionary tale for prospective automobile buyers is the JZA80 Supra from the late 1990s, which has only a 10 horsepower increase with an engine supplied by BMW. For instance, few people can afford a Toyota that costs about $60,000 and is known for its reliability concerns. People would be better off purchasing a Lexus or any other luxury vehicle at that price. Given the reputation of the 4th generation Supra, perhaps Toyota would be better served by marketing the brand as anything other than a Supra.
All of them resulted in incredibly low sales numbers. Toyota sold 2,884 Supras globally in 2019 and 5,887 in 2020. Not at all impressive for a halo vehicle. It should also come as no surprise that, aside from the engine, the Z4 and A90 Supra are very identical. Particularly, the interior positively shouts BMW. BMW alone is responsible for the center console and the infotainment system. It’s unfortunate since sports car enthusiasts had high hopes for the new Supra, but Toyota chose to cut development costs by utilizing numerous original parts supplied by BMW in an effort to deceive the fans. Although dealerships all over the world are providing steep discounts to revive interest in the Supra, the harm has already been done because it is merely a rebadged BMW Z4.
Toyota, check your dictionary once more and learn what the word “legacy” actually means.
Amount of MK4 Supra produced?
Despite being the quickest and arguably most beautiful Supra model of its time, the MK4 was strangely the least popular, which led to the end of era-specific Supra manufacture. Due to its high price and the rising popularity of trucks and SUVs, the MK4 saw its best sales results in the first year of production before embarking on a depressing downward sales trend.
Sales had plunged to 337 units in 2002 from a high of 15,901 units in 1993, ultimately ending the MK4’s manufacture.
A Toyota Supra will depreciate 25% after 5 years and have a 5 year resale value of $43,361.
The anticipated depreciation over the following ten years is shown in the figure below. These outcomes apply to cars that travel 12,000 miles annually on average and are in good condition. Additionally, it counts on a new-car selling price of $57,814. Enter the purchase price, anticipated length of ownership, and yearly mileage estimate. We can estimate the Toyota Supra’s projected resale value using our depreciation calculator.
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Is buying a Toyota Supra a wise decision?
While Toyotas are frequently inexpensive and simple to maintain, the Supra generally follows the same philosophy. In addition to a new set of tires and an alignment, Car and Driver spent about $4,120 on standard maintenance over the course of a year, including oil changes, oil filters, cabin filters, and inspections. The hardest thing, according to Lagos, was finding the right dealership to service the automobile at.
When we called Michigan-based Toyota dealerships to schedule an oil change or another service, Lagos said, “We regularly encountered circumstances where they would not do it because they didn’t store the specific BMW fluids that the car required during servicing.”
This resulted in circumstances where they were unable to accept the automobile right away or at all, or where they had to delay the service for a long time while obtaining the fluid.
Having said all of that, if you intend to purchase a 202021 Toyota Supra, you can encounter problems when having it serviced at your neighborhood Toyota dealership. However, depending on where you live, your results can be different.
Overall, if you can handle it, the Toyota Supra is a delight to drive all year long. If you can’t, it still makes a fine three-season vehicle that is dependable but still has certain peculiarities.
Why are Supras so hard to find?
The Toyota Supra has been making news more frequently recently despite being off the market in the United States for 20 years. And for good reason: Toyota has spent the last five years igniting enthusiasts’ fervor for its future fifth-generation model, which will be unveiled at the 2019 Detroit Auto Show and will go on sale in 2019. In addition, collectors are starting to drive up prices on clean versions from the 1990s.
The Supra, often thought of as little more than a Celica coupe with more power, has recently found itself in the spotlight, and not in a good manner.
Generation Xers, millennials, and die-hard fans who grew up idolizing the automobile, in particular, have fallen in love with Toyota’s fourth-generation A80 Supra, which was produced from 1993 to 1998.
Here is a glance at the present activities of the tenacious Supra as well as a glimpse at its history.
Toyota Supra Sells for $121K
A 1994 Toyota Supra manual twin-turbo that was in brand-new, factory-condition, recently for an astounding $121,000 at auction. Although that price is unlikely to become the standard, it does firmly establish the Supra as a six-figure car. Why then did this specific Supra command such a premium price?
For starters, it’s a vintage collectible that still contains all of its original parts. This Supra has all the original equipment, right down to the cassette tape/CD player, including the distinctive rear spoiler, its original aluminum alloy wheels and Bridgestone Potenza tires, and the mint tan leather seats. Additionally, it has only 7,000 kilometers on it, which is unusual for a car this old. The car’s rarity is increased by the fact that it was also unmodified; Supras from this generation were frequently modified and customized, making the unaltered versions difficult to find.
The 3.0-liter, twin-turbocharged inline-six engine with 320 horsepower and 315 pound-feet of torque in this Supra, along with a six-speed manual transmission, make up its very desirable drivetrain configuration. This Supra also has nostalgically appealing styling. The majority of cars in this generation came with a less powerful base inline six-cylinder engine and either a four-speed automatic transmission or a five-speed manual transmission.
The high price is just a result of supply and demand, to sum up. For an unique vehicle like this one, there is a long runway of development potential, even though $121,000 sounds like a lot to pay for a car. Younger collectors who admire these models will eventually have larger money for the ideal automobile they dreamed of as children, while Supras as spotless as this one will only become more rare. Prices can rise significantly when there is a large supply gap and a high demand.
The Supra is Back for 2020
For the first time since the last Toyota Supra was marketed in the United States in 1998, the Supra made a reappearance. A fifth-generation Supra, the A90, was debuted at the 2019 North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), which took place in Detroit from January 14 to 27. The A90 was mostly developed by BMW and uses a BMW motor and many other components from the new Z4. Since this is the first new Supra to be sold in well over 20 years, excitement is understandably strong.
It has an inline six-cylinder turbocharged engine with 335 horsepower, a rear-wheel drive system, and an eight-speed automated transmission. It promotes aerodynamic balance with a low center of gravity and a 50-50 weight distribution. The 2020 Supra will be offered in two grades, 3.0 and 3.0 Premium, as well as a “Launch Edition,” and will be on sale in the summer of 2019. Renaissance Red 2.0, Nitro Yellow, and Downshift Blue will all be colors.