Toyota 86 facelift to break cover at New York Auto Show

With Scion’s exit in the North American market, the models that existed in their line-up were to be rebadged as Toyota models. Their most popular model (although not popular enough given Scion’s shuttering) was the FR-S, which will now be known as the Toyota 86. It just so happens that the 86 is also due for a facelift as well, which gives Toyota a perfect opportunity to relaunch the 86 for North America.

Toyota will be putting the model on display in the coming New York Auto Show at the end of the month, but they have released specifications and renders ahead of launch. Just as the Toyota and Subaru engineers have repeatedly said they would not be increasing power outputs, the powertrain has been left largely untouched. For manual variants specifically, power is up by 5 hp and torque is up by 9 Nm, and the gear ratios have been changed for better gear spacing. The suspension damping and spring rates have been revised to improve handling dynamics- not that the 86 needed much improvement to begin with.

As for the rest of the car, there have been a number of changes in terms of exterior aesthetics. Toyota aimed to make the 86 look more aggressive, and so the front bumper was redesigned to have a larger intake. The North American market will receive LED headlamps and turn signals, as well as new LED tail lamps. The rear bumpers have changed as well and the 86 badge has been added to the front fenders- something previously missing under the Scion branding.

The remaining changes to the car are merely to convert the Scion FR-S into the Toyota 86- so things like the steering wheel and 86 motif on the instrument cluster won’t be new to other markets around the world. As the 86 is no longer officially sold here, you can expect to see the facelifted model in the used car market in a few years’ time.